‘Up to’ no good
A new survey conducted by You Gov for broadband analyst Point Topic has found that a large proportion of broadband users rarely, if ever, experience the download speeds indicated by the ‘up to’ claims that are common practice among ISPs
“Of the users who reported subscribing to an ‘up to 16 Mbps’ package, only 4% said that their connection actually provided it,” said Pamela Varley, research analyst at Point Topic.
It seems that, as promised broadband speeds go up, the chances of actually achieving them are inversely proportional. So while a 512 kbps package will deliver that speed to 72 percent of users, ‘up to’ 16 Mbps connections actually offer that speed to a feeble four percent of those expecting it.
Point Topic also devised a ratio to measure how close to delivering advertised speeds individual ISPs get. ‘This ratio shows us how the user experience relates to the advertised speeds,’ said Varley. ‘The closer it is to 1 the closer the speed the user experiences to the speed advertised.’
Of the big six, Sky scores best with a ratio of 0.79 and Orange is bottom with 0.63.
It’s just a long shot, but surely it would be fair and honest for ISPs to either change the way they advertise broadband speeds or to rewrite their contracts to allow consumers to pay ‘up to’ an agreed amount for their broadband service.
