We’ve all heard it before but UK review firm, Which?, has once again confirmed that Brits are not getting the broadband speeds that are advertised by providers. Which? was able to take results from 235,000 users of its broadband speed checking tool to see whether users were getting the advertised speeds.
In its findings it said that customers that were paying for 38Mbps were getting an average speed of 19Mbps and those with 200Mbps packages were getting a shockingly low 52Mbps. The findings come just days before a new shake-up pertaining to broadband advertising comes into effect. According to Which?"s findings, the closest actual average speed to that what was advertised was seen in packages offering up to 50Mbps; those users saw an average speed of 35Mbps, 70% of the advertised speed.
From May 23, broadband providers will have to stop advertising “up to” speeds unless 50% of their customers can actually reach those speeds at peak times. This is just one of the changes Ofcom have made in the last year following on from a rule that made broadband suppliers list phone line rental and broadband costs into one price rather than separating them and confusing potential customers.
Discussing the rule change, Alex Neill, Which?’s managing director of home services, said:
“This change in the rules is good news for customers who have been continuously let down by unrealistic adverts and broadband speeds that won"t ever live up to expectations.
‘We know that speed and reliability of service really matter to customers, and we will be keeping a close eye on providers to make sure they follow these new rules and finally deliver the service that people pay for.’”
Once the changes do roll out on Wednesday, Brits will have a much clearer idea of the sort of speeds they’re most likely do get when joining a service, however, it won’t stop all people getting lower than the newly advertised speeds, for example, those in rural areas are still more likely to receive slower speeds than those in the urban areas.