UK broadband speeds slower than advertised

An investigation by The Guardian newspaper suggests that UK broadband customers are getting short-changed by as much as 42%, thanks to advertising regulations permitting the use of “up to” speed claims, Expert Reviews reports.

According to the newspaper's figures, the average UK broadband Internet connection is around 42% slower than the performance claimed by the providers in advertising and marketing material. While the average claimed speed is 12Mbps, The Guardian claims the average real speed is just 7Mbps.

According to The Guardian, readers complained of broadband blackspots in city centres, of exposed copper lines that fail in bad weather, and of having to move businesses out of homes because of poor connections.

"If you were buying a dozen apples and you got three, you wouldn't put up with it," says Hugh Colvin, an arts organiser who lives on the Welsh border and rents two telephone lines so that more than one member of his family can use the Internet at a time. "It's outrageous that I pay the same as somebody who is in the middle of London getting 10 times the speed."

Since advertising rules changed in April, Internet service providers can only claim "up to" speeds if at least 10% of users are receiving them, The Telegraph notes.

Even this threshold was criticised as too low by the broadband companies, which are now moving away from blanket advertising to quoting a different speed for each customer.