Kitz Forum
Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: Bowdon on April 30, 2018, 10:50:24 AM
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https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/04/get-ready-for-average-speeds-in-uk-broadband-isp-advertising.html (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/04/get-ready-for-average-speeds-in-uk-broadband-isp-advertising.html)
Tomorrow marks the first day of May and it will be an important month for broadband providers in the United Kingdom, not least because a new rule will be enforced, which requires them to start promoting “average speeds” (a median measured at peak time – 8pm to 10pm) for their public packages.
At present most of us have become familiar with seeing public packages being promoted with headline speeds of “up to 17Mbps” (c.20Mbps ADSL2+ lines), “up to 38Mbps” (40Mbps FTTC lines) or similar and this reflects the 10% guidance adopted by the Advertising Standards Authority all the way back in 2012.
Essentially the 10% measure requires that headline speeds should be achievable by at least 10% of an ISPs customers (i.e. the fastest 10% on a specific package / connection) and these figures must be preceded by an “up to” qualifier. On top of that the ISP must also explain any limitations that may affect the user’s speed.
All of this is separate from the personal speed estimates that signatory ISPs to Ofcom’s Code of Practice for Broadband Speeds are supposed to provide when you sign-up. The regulator’s estimate should be based on the conditions of your specific line and so must considered to be a more reliable prediction of your performance, while headline rates are displayed to everybody and so should be taken with a big pinch of salt.
It will be interesting how ISP's respond to having to put up their average speed in the advertisements.
Also it will now mean that the ISP will have an interest in keeping your speed as high as it can go, were before they just left it up to you because it made no impact on the ISP if you were paying for an 'upto 40MB' package but were getting 2MB. Now that speed would lower the ISP's advertised speed. So this could be beneficial for the customer.
Also the ISP's can now feel the full impact of the old copper network with its many faults and inconsistant speeds. Maybe this will be a gentle encouragement to start looking in to more reliable technologies.
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Let's hope it is not an excuse for ISPs to stop offering service to customers with long lines or penalising them by charging them more.
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How do you even begin to measure average speeds accurately given the sheer number of variables involved in (copper based) broadband? What about the factors outside of the ISP's control - distance from cabinet, line quality, interference, cross-talk etc.?
The only way to make this truly fair is if the ISPs are only allowed to charge for the speeds they are able to deliver.
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Let's hope it is not an excuse for ISPs to stop offering service to customers with long lines or penalising them by charging them more.
Won't be additional charging but most certainly not offering service to customers with longer lines. That's already happening :)