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Small businesses "need a minimum of 8 meg broadband"

By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 12 Mar 2010 at 11:27

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the Government to force ISPs to provide minimum speeds of 8Mbits/sec.

The group has called for ISPs to be "obliged to deliver a minimum and guaranteed connection speed of 8Mbits/sec direct to business premises" as part of the Digital Economy Bill.

The group claims that a large number of its members are not receiving speeds they've paid for. “They’re being promised a service, like a 4Mbits/sec speed, and only getting 1 or 2Mbits/sec and they [businesses] can’t do the things they need to,” said a spokeswoman for the FSB.

She added that rules need to be enforced by the Government for “ISPs to provide these services so that we can become a truly digital Britain”.

Firms should also be allowed to cancel their contract if ISPs are not delivering a service that meets their expectation, the FSB claims. An ICM poll commissioned by the group shows that three out of ten businesses had an unreliable connection. Many are unable to get the connection they paid for or leave their contract, according to the spokeswoman.

The FSB is backing Lord Erroll's bid for Ofcom to take responsibility for dealing with faults on customers' lines.

More than one in ten small companies said they were considering moving their business to an area with faster broadband, according to the FSB's research.

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User comments

8GB connection

You need that just to get the latest Microsoft Updates. (You know, normal small business with no WSUS server)

By john_coller on 12 Mar 2010

Do the FSB ( or said spokeswoman) understand broadband?

How can you force ISP's to provide 8Mb broadband? If a business is in a location that is 6Km from the exchange, they should just be thankful they have broadband. I work for an IT consultancy and we have a few customers in semi-remote locations on 1Mb connections. IT IS frustrating i know. But cancelling with ISP A because youre only getting 2Mb with an "UP TO" 8Mb service and going with ISP B because they have said they CAN DEFINATELY get you 8Mb is laughable. Your line is only good for a certain speed, regardless of ISP.
The only way to force this is by getting BT to role out their Fibre technologies quicker (which we all know is not going to happen soon). The dropped connections are a seperate issue with which I agree there should be some kind of SLA in place for.
Just my 2p worth.

By EITeng on 12 Mar 2010

Again...

People do not understand how ADSL works or what 'up to 8Mbps' means.

Would you complain to the Highways Agency if you couldn't drive at the theoretical maxiumum of 70mph on motorways?

By Stiggy on 12 Mar 2010

Stiggy: Yeah. I think I would actually. If the road is inherently incapable of being used at full speed why shouldn't I complain? The Highways Agency is only a taxpayer funded public service after all.

By steviesteveo on 12 Mar 2010

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