Most Britons know all about their net speeds? and they aren?t happy
With Ofcom continuing its investigation into how broadband providers should be selling connections and the differences between actual speed and what?s advertised, there?s been an assumption that many UK net users don?t actually know the difference about the two speeds, or that they aren?t even aware of the advertised speed of their connections. New figures released this week from an ISPreview poll have found this assumption to be untrue however, with over 500 respondents suggesting that the vast majority of people are aware of the speeds they are receiving.
Obviously the survey is quite skewed by the fact it was conducted on a site where many readers could be considered more tech savvy than the average broadband consumer, with the vast majority reporting to be aware of both their advertised speed and the speeds they are currently achieving from their connections. However, they still signify that many people know the difference between the two ?speeds? ? a gap which has been getting increasingly larger in the last few years.
As we?ve seen from many other polls of this type, over 50 per cent of respondents weren?t happy with their broadband speed. How much of that has to do with a difference between perceived speed and advertised speed is unknown, but with the average advertised speed currently sitting at over 11 Mbps and the UK average at a much more muted 5.2 Mbps, it wouldn?t be surprising that the gap contributes to the overall ?bad feeling? about broadband in the country.
Over the last few years many net packages have increased their maximum speed by more than double what they used to offer, but without any upgrade in the actual phone lines that are being used for ADSL services the actual speed consumers receive hasn?t changed my nearly as much. Cable services, which use fibre optic cable, don?t have the same problem and in general advertised speeds aren?t far off from what the consumer ends up receiving.
Of course, Ofcom?s efforts are about bringing that expectation down rather than actually focusing on improving the network and bringing those advertised speeds closer to reality.Tweet
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to UK Cheap Broadband Magazine by Email
Recent Broadband Stories
Click here to compare broadband
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leave your response!