Ofcom – The Difference between Theoretical and Real Life Broadband Speeds

  

On February Ofcom asked the public to help it test the actual broadband speeds so it may be compared to the ISP "up-to" claims (see "Ofcom (UK):Help Us Test Broadband Speed Claims" - here).

Now we get the outcome (updated to May 2010) - See "Research shows increase in average broadband speeds" - here - and the full report - "UK broadband speeds, May 2010" - here.

Some interesting conclusions (the research was done in partnership with SamKnows, who is also supporting the FCC in a similar test - here):

• UK’s average actual fixed-line residential broadband speed has increased by over 25% over the past year.
    
• The move to faster headline speeds has led to a growing gap between the actual speeds delivered and the speeds that some ISPs use to advertise their service
   
• In April 2009, average actual (or download) speeds were 4.1Mbit/s, 58% of average advertised ‘up to’ speeds (7.1Mbit/s). In May 2010, average download speeds were 5.2Mbit/s, 45% of average advertised ‘up to’ speeds (11.5Mbit/s).
   
• The research found that cable broadband services delivered significantly faster actual (or download) speeds than comparable services provided via a telephone line

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive said:

‘. Actual speeds are often much lower than many of the advertised speeds which makes it essential that consumers are given information which is as accurate as possible at the point of sale; this is what the new Code is designed to deliver.’

FCC is Recruiting Volunteers to Test Actual Broadband Speeds

 

Dave Vorhaus, FCC's Expert Advisor, Economic Opportunity, needs 10,000 volunteers to help conducting a scientific, hardware-based (a special Netgear router to be installed at home) test of actual broadband speeds and performance delivered by ISPs to consumers’ homes.

FCC selected SamKnows to conduct the test (Ofcom, the UK regulator is using the same company - here).

More details on the FCC blog - here.  To join - here.

In parallel, an FCC survey finds that "4 Out of 5 Americans Don't Know Their Broadband Speeds" (press release - here, survey - here).

Defining "Speed" could be tricky (is the the bit-rate of the link or the throughout when downloading a file?).

The survey found that "In spite of the fact that few broadband users know the specifics of their connection speed, 71% of broadband users believe that their connection speed at home is as fast as the provider promises at least most of the time. Some 24% of broadband users say they “always” receive the promised speed and another 47% say they receive the promised speed “most of the time.” This leaves one quarter (25%) of broadband users who say they receive the promised download speed some of the time or less frequently."

Nevertheless, "Most Americans are satisfied with the broadband speed they are getting. Fully 91 percent of broadband users say they are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the speed they get at home. The comparable number for mobile broadband, which is not yet technologically capable of the same speeds as home broadband, is 71 percent satisfaction. As a point of comparison, 92 percent of cell phone users are very or somewhat satisfied with their cell phone service overall."

Anyway - the new test could clarify all that. Good luck, Dave!

Ofcom (UK):Help Us Test Broadband Speed Claims

Ofcom (the UK communications regulator) is looking for volunteers (here) in order to extend its ISP performance tracking research program for the next two years. The program tracks the real picture of UK internet speeds.

Last year results, based on 60 millions readings (!), are here.  The main finding, in the nationwide level was that the average broadband speed in the UK in April 2009 was 4.1 Mbit/s, compares to an average ‘up to’ headline speed of 7.1 Mbit/s - so the term used by ISPs "up-to" has a good reason to be there! Recent announcements from UK ISPs are even more ambitious (see Virgin Media plans 100Mb broadband).

This is of course a world-wide phenomena, and not unique to the UK. Using such research data, customers may compare the performance of the different ISPs and chose the one providing them the best price/performance (not necessarily by how well they are getting close to the advertized speed).

Ofcom uses SamKnows for the monitoring solution.