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2007s fastest ISPs are named
(21-12-07) - Sky has been named the most reliable broadband provider overall, as the fastest and most consistent ISPs of 2007 have been named by BroadbandChoices.co.uk.
Winners were awarded a gold, silver or bronze rating in the following three bandwidth categories:
Welter Weight – all providers offering up to 2Mb services
Cruiser Weight – all providers offering up to 8Mb services (excluding welter weights)
Heavy Weight – any providers offering up to 16Mb, 20Mb or 24Mb services
The ISPs who received awards are:
Virgin Media - Gold in “welter weight” and “heavy weight” categories
Although Sky (www.Sky.com) came out top overall, Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) was awarded the gold medal in the “welter weight” category for connections up to 2Mb and also in the “heavy weight” category with speeds of up to 16Mb, 20Mb and 24Mb. Customers on its M Broadband up to 2Mb package enjoyed an average of 1.7Mb while those taking its XL Broadband, with speeds of up to 20Mb received an average of 7.3Mb.
Sky took the gold in the “cruiser weight” category of up to 8Mb - the most common broadband connection - with customers getting an average of 3.1Mb. It came in second after Virgin Media in the welter weight category and its up to 16Mb broadband took bronze in the heavy weight category.
Earlier this year, consumer watchdog Which? found a “huge” gap between publicised broadband speeds and what most users actually received, with the average speed “enjoyed” by customers on 8Mb packages being as low as 2.7Mb.
The biggest gaps between advertised top speeds and those actually achieved by customers are found in the heavy weight category. Gold medallist Virgin Media advertises up to 20Mb but customers only got an average of 7.3Mb, silver medallist and pioneer of super-fast broadband, Be Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) advertises speeds of up to 24Mb but customers enjoy an average of 5.2Mb, and Sky, which came in third place with its up to 16Mb offering, only managed to achieve an average of 4.7Mb.
TalkTalk did not appear anywhere near the top of the results, having only delivered an average speed of 2.2Mb for its 8Mb package in the cruiser weight division; while the wooden spoon was awarded to Supanet in the Cruiser weight division with only 1.4Mb on average.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Connections get degraded the further away they are from the BT exchange. Factors like this and poor quality wiring significantly degrade broadband connections and reduce the available speed. It’s simply not possible for every customer to get the advertised speed. Our speed tests show that, on average, customers only receive 35 per cent of the promised speed.
“None of our gold medallists actually delivered anywhere near their promised speeds. This really does call for providers to be more honest about the kind of speeds customers can realistically expect to receive, rather than using flashy advertising focused on ever-increasing top speeds,” he concluded.
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