Mar 6, 2011
Virgin Media fastest home broadband network
For more information ~ Virgin Media (visit Virgin Media website)
ISPs should not blur the truth about broadband speeds to consumers in order to get ahead. While advertised speeds are going up and up, many people are not even getting the slower speeds they are being promised today. One in five people who take an advertised ‘fast package’ – used by 60% of internet users – are actually getting connections around 3Mbps-5Mbps.
Ofcom carried out performance tests in 1,700 homes across the UK at the end of 2010. This week Ofcom confirmed their research that our average broadband speeds are less than half those advertised. Ofcom, the communications watchdog, is pushing for a change in the way internet providers, including O2, BT and Sky advertise “up to” broadband speeds, which most customers are unable to receive.
We currently get less than half the average advertised speed of 13.8Mb. We are still being left in the slow lane by our internet service providers (ISP). UK web users are experiencing some of the slowest broadband access in the developed world. Dissatisfaction with broadband is twice as high in rural areas – especially the east Midlands, Wales and Scotland – the widening gap between the broadband speed “haves” in cities and the “have nots” in the countryside.
The growing demand for faster broadband packages has led ISPs to advertise maximum speeds, despite our current infrastructure being unable to deliver them. The only ISP delivering close to the maximum speed advertised, according to Ofcom, was Virgin Media, with the advantage of a relatively new cable network in many urban areas.
Their typical broadband speed received by customers was much closer to the advertised speed with fibre-optic cable packages, such as the those delivered by Virgin Media with 17.25 Mbps average speed being delivered at peak times. However, only 22% of Britons have fibre-optic connections, with 77% of the population using copper-based DSL phone lines. Speeds are generally lower in the country because of the technology used for broadband services. All broadband providers except Virgin Media have to use BT’s copper lines to connect people’s homes to the internet. The longer the line between house and the local telephone exchange, the slower the speed. Lines tend to be shortest in urban areas and speeds are on average 15% faster than those in rural areas.
Unfortunately, when it comes to investing in fibre optics to the home, we’re way behind when compared to countries like Germany, Japan and America. Consumers in London receive the fastest average speeds with those in the north east of England, Wales and Scotland receiving on average the slowest speeds.
Under Ofcom’s latest recommendations, ISPs advertising DSL connections of “up to” 8Mbps – the service used by the majority in the UK – would be forced to reveal that the typical speed is in reality between 2Mbps and 5Mbps.
Earlier this week The Observer Newspaper quoted the executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, Jon James, who described the Ofcam report as “yet another damning indictment that consumers continue to be treated like mugs and misled by ISPs that simply cannot deliver on their advertised speed claims”.
Virgin was ranked highest for customer service in the 2011 Which? broadband survey and although Virgin are not the cheapest in the market – they are actuually supplying you with what you have paid for – plus add-on deals such as 50 free photo prints each month and no connection setup fee all make Virgin Media your best home broadband choice.
For more information ~ Virgin Media (visit Virgin Media website)
