Is your broadband upto scratch?
A study by moneysupermarket.com reveals that 61 per cent of people chose their broadband provider because of the speed on offer. However, the study of 43,000 broadband customers revealed that only 44 per cent of customers receive just half the speed advertised when they signed up, so music and film downloads are taking twice as long.
55 per cent of the population spend 172 hours on average, that’s 7 solid days!, of their free time each year downloading files from the internet. With broadband services this slow customers are surely being ripped off by false advertising? A credit card company could not advertise one rate of interest and simply charge a higher rate so why should broadband providers get away with it?
Rob Barnes, head of broadband and mobiles at moneysupermarket.com, said: “As most people are only achieving half the speed they signed up for, a typical film of 500Mb could take up to four hours to download, instead of 60-90 minutes. If you’re downloading a podcast of 50Mb, you’d expect it to be downloaded within 10 minutes if using an 8Mb line, on speeds less than this you could be waiting up to half an hour.
“As the downloading culture continues to grow, broadband speed becomes even more important. Thankfully, Ofcom has decided to step in and question six of the biggest Internet Service Providers, looking at the speeds they advertise and what people actually receive. From this consultation, providers should be required to give clear, transparent advice on the speeds people will be able to achieve; perhaps providing a test, like O2 broadband, as part of the process when they sign up to a new deal. In the meantime I’d recommend anyone who wants to download large files, such as films, to opt for a connection of 16Mb or faster with unlimited download capabilities. Providers such as Be Broadband, Virgin Media and Sky Broadband all offer this.”
Good advice from Moneysupermarket and roll on the outcome of Ofcom’s questionnaire.