ISPs won't be forced to reveal true speeds

 

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Posted on 28 Jul 2009 at 07:57

Ofcom says that ISPs will be under no obligation to reveal the true speed of their services to customers, despite the regulator's extensive research into broadband connections.

New figures released by Ofcom reveal that the average broadband speed in the UK is only 4.1Mbits/sec, with some leading ISPs offering less than half the advertised "up to" speed.

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Ofcom's Code of Practice for broadband providers states that ISPs are obliged to "provide all consumers within the sales process, with information on their estimated
access line speed". Line speed data is generally an estimated maximum speed, based on the customer's distance from the exchange.

Yet, Ofcom says it won't be requiring ISPs to tell customers about the appalling speeds revealed by its own research, despite Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards admitting that "it's very difficult to get a good understanding of what [broadband] speeds will be".

Neither will Ofcom be calling on ISPs to stop advertising speeds of "up to 8Mbits/sec", despite the fact it's physically impossible to connect at speeds greater than 7.2Mbit/sec on any BT Wholesale connection.

"Banning advertising of speeds would not be in consumers' interests," claims Peter Phillips, a partner in strategy and market development at Ofcom. "It's critical at the point of purchase that consumers are being advised about what they can reasonably expect."

When asked why ISPs were being allowed to "lie" to consumers about broadband speeds, Phillips said: "People are not lying to consumers. If you live close to the [telephone] exchange, you can get very close to the speed in the headline."