Average broadband speeds still not half what's advertised

Broadband Britain: Ofcom lobbies for 'typical speed range' to be added to ads...

Average UK broadband speeds are still not even half the headline speeds that many ISPs continue to advertise.

According to research by telecoms regulator Ofcom, the average advertised broadband speed in the UK is 13.8Mbps yet the UK average broadband speed is just 6.2Mbps - 45 per cent of the speeds being touted.

ADSL broadband - which uses all-copper telephone lines to carry data - was typically worse than BT's Infinity fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) next-gen broadband service when it came to download speeds, Ofcom found. But Virgin Media's cable broadband performed better than both.

Ofcom: Next-gen broadband services that use fibre are closer to advertised speeds than all-copper ADSL
Photo: Shutterstock

While average download speeds on BT's FTTC service were 31.1Mbps - 78 per cent of the advertised speeds - Ofcom said ADSL averages varied widely, with the average download for 20Mbps-24Mbps broadband packages standing at just 6.2Mbps - or 29 per cent of the average advertised speeds. For up-to-8Mbps services, the average was just 3.4Mbps, or 42 per cent of the average advertised speeds.

Virgin Media's cable broadband service outperformed both ADSL and BT's FTTC, delivering average download speeds that were between 90 and 96 per cent of the maximum advertised speeds. Virgin Media's 50Mbps package delivered an average download speed of around 46Mbps, according to Ofcom.

Ofcom's research also looked at average upload speeds, finding that BT's Infinity FTTC offered average upload speeds of about 8Mbps - significantly higher than any other service measured in the research. Virgin Media's up-to-50Mbps broadband service yielded average upload speeds of about 2.5Mbps, while all other ISP packages gave an average upload speed of less than 1.5Mbps.

The telecoms regulator said it is recommending that broadband speeds used in adverts are based on a typical speed range (TSR) in future, in its response to the current Committee for Advertising Practice and Broadcast Committee for Advertising Practice consultation on broadband speeds advertising.

A TSR would represent the range of speeds actually achieved by at least half the ISP's customers, and would vary by broadband technology type - with an up-to-8Mbps ADSL package translating into a TSR of 2Mbps to 5Mbps, while an up-to-40Mbps BT FTTC would have a TSR of 30Mbps to 36Mbps. Ofcom wants advertisers that continue to use 'up to' speed references in their ads to have to give the TSR at least equal prominence.

The regulator also wants 'up to' speeds only to be used in adverts if the maximum they tout can be achieved by "a material number of consumers".

"It is encouraging that new technologies are being rolled out across the UK and faster speeds are being achieved. However, the research shows that ISPs need to do more to ensure they are giving customers clear and accurate information about the services they provide and the factors that may affect the actual speeds customers will receive," said Ofcom CEO Ed Richards in a statement.

Ofcom's research looked at 11 broadband packages representing more than 90 per cent of residential broadband subscribers in the UK, provided by the seven largest ISPs in the market: BT, O2-Be, Orange, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Sky and Virgin Media.

Ofcom said more than 18 million separate service performance tests were carried out in more than 1,700 homes during November and December 2010.