Ofcom finally tires of fantasy broadband speeds

"Up to" the consumer to show common sense

Is it really so hard to understand? If I see a sign saying 'Sale: up to 50% off' I don't expect everything to be half price. So if an ISP says 'up to 8Mbps' I guess I'll get maybe half that.

ISPs do now try to show an estimate of what speeds you will get, but as we all know there are a huge number of factors that can result in poor speed, many of them not under the ISPs control.

By Stiggy on 27 Jul 2010

Also up to ISPs not to exaggerate

@Stiggy
The problem is that some ISPs state up to 8mbps but then a lot of customers only get 2mbps, which is way off and not reflective of what the ISP are actually offering.

Isn't there a remour that OFCOM are about to be scrapped by the government? Is that why they're suddenly interested in being seen to be actually doing something at long last?

By mviracca on 27 Jul 2010

Nothing like P45's to motivate!

Shame it took their impending doom to make Ofcom get up in the morning and do some work.

By cheysuli on 27 Jul 2010

What are they measuring

This is also surely not restricted to the line speed? We have lines which are "perfect" and max speed, but the data transfer never reaches it due to contention. Even if everyone had perfect, I'll bet no one would see any actual data transfer speed up. There's a bigger picture to be looked at too.

By MJ2010 on 27 Jul 2010

I agree with mviracca that some custonmers must feel misled if they only get 10-25% of the up-to speed, but I'd be more impressed if OFCOM would do something about the incorrect use of the word 'unlimited' in advertising - if taken at face value we're all being misled.

By 23522 on 27 Jul 2010

Yeah

"BT, for example, caps "up to 8Mbits/sec" lines at 7.2Mbits/sec to ensure connections are stable." - so you can't reach 8Mbits/sec even theoretically.

By Lomskij on 27 Jul 2010

ASA don't care

IPS should just market the speeds as "unlimited", the ASA are fine with that term.

By peterm2k on 27 Jul 2010

Limited vs Unlimited

A US company Franklin Mint used to sell cheap tat via the colour supplements, one of their ruses was to call something a "limited edition" collectable but the small print said "edition limited to the number of copies sold"!
Perhaps Ofcom and the ISPs could take a leaf out if this book and offer "limited edition" internet services with the speed "limited to the speed actually delivered".

By milliganp on 27 Jul 2010

@Stiggy - not the same as "up to 50% off" sales

The problem is that you would expect a reasonable proportion of the sale items to be 50% off, but if they just have a few broken pencils you haven't lost out apart from wasting a bit of time looking for non-existent bargains. It's rather different when you've paid for a service and such a tiny proportion of people have any chance of getting near the "up to" limit.

The BBC quoted stats today that of those on "up to 20Mbps" services, only 2% get even 14Mbps and 65% get only 8Mbps or less. If an advertiser is quoting "up to", a reasonable proportion should be capable of getting that speed. It's up to the ASA to get off their behinds and do something about it like defining a "reasonable proportion". I'll give you a hint ASA as you seem rather slow on the uptake - 2% is not reasonable.

By halsteadk on 27 Jul 2010

All you need to do is complain

I spoke to Orange about the shockling download speeds I was getting on my mobile broadband and they lopped 20% off the monthly bill.... and the speeds seem to be improving a bit now as well!!

By mrajs on 27 Jul 2010

Too Little Too Late

It is not enough to actually change the advertising rules to make them more accurate, it is necessary to force ADSL and Cable suppliers to actually Pro-Rate their charges based on actual performance and usage. If this is applied then it will force suppliers to be more competative, and also give a greater incentive to improve the shortfalls in the technology and be more competative.

But this aside, the advertising needs to be expanded to include the following details:
-Locations of all exchanges or endpoints for ADSL lines
-tables of speed over ranges of distances (allowing customers to estimate performance), -Artificial Bandwith Restrictions such as Contention Ratios (Where 10,20 up to 50 consumer lines share the same 8MBit ADSL or 20Mbit ADSL2 bandwidth), -connection or port based bandwidth throttling
-any form of scanning for malware or advertising,
and so on

I would also like to see the separation of services so that there are distinct charges for the copper line, the telephone service and the ADSL service, such that it would then be possible to dispense with the landline telephone service altogether, with the charges for the copper line being limited to no more than say £5 and the phone service provided over the line costing a furthur £5+ depending on the type of service, where currently the phone service including line cost £10+.

Breaking down products into their components would also allow for fairer charging.

Providers must be compelled to ammend their behaviour to operate more fairly with the possibility that they will have their operating license cancelled

By j_woolliscroft on 29 Jul 2010

I have no problem with ISP's advertising an up to service, but what I do object to is paying the same price for my 3Mb service as someone who can get maximum speed. Cost should be based on your maximum connection speed.

By kit1cat on 29 Jul 2010

Easy solution

if the government and big business were not hand in hand to rook the public, then ISPs would be forced to publish a DOWN_TO speed, below which they would not be allowed to charge the customer for that week. Problem solved.

By cynic_moi on 29 Jul 2010

A major factor for ADSL is the distance from the telephone exchange. Are people here seriously suggesting that just because you live a long way from a telephone exchange you should pay less?!?

Also, what if your internal wiring is rubbish, it that the ISPs fault?

The 'poles and wires' are managed by BT Openreach, which is beyond the ISPs control too. This is why the ISP will threaten you with a £150 bill if BT have to come and investigate the wiring, only to discover it's your own internal fault.

By Stiggy on 29 Jul 2010

What about Mobile “Broadband”

T-mobile enlightened me that their advertised speed only applies to Web Browsing!!!! Download speeds are about 40kb/s – no better than Dial-up! Sort this out first please. At least “Broadband” is broadband with BT and others.

By vic_ago on 1 Aug 2010