We all know that when a Broadband provider puts ‘up to’ in the opening line of their marketing campaign that it means we are likely to not get the full advertised speed.
Well this is most definitely the case, almost every time. According to Ofcom, who has released its latest study of average broadband speeds across the UK, the average speed across the UK has increased a small amount by 10% to 6.8Mbps over the last 6 months. However, advertisements still promise vastily inflated speeds, leaving some customers with slower than expected broadband speeds.
Services that offer ‘up to’ 30Mbps typically give speeds of around half that and services from BT and Plusnet offering ‘up to’ 8Mbps sit around the 3-4Mbps mark while BT, Karoo, O2, Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk’s ’20Mbps’ services actually provide below 9Mbps.
Almost half of all UK broadband providers offer speeds of above 10Mbps, compared to 8% two years ago. While this might be great because the speeds are increasing, you don’t necessarily get the speeds advertised.
If available, Fibreoptic broadband seems to be the way to go, with BT’s 40Mbps service averaging around 34Mbps actual speeds, and Virgin Media’s 50Mbps service sitting around the 48Mbps mark.
Virgin Media have an ace up their sleeve and are the only network to provide speeds higher than advertised with their 30Mbps service actually averaging higher at 31Mbps, which currently no other network has done.
It’s been the same story this year as it was last year – Broadband speeds are increasing but not as much as advertised. You can have a look at Ofcom’s official broadband map to see what the speed in your area should be like.