Broadband News
Average broadband speeds fall slightly to 4.8Mb
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) has held onto the broadband top spot with an average download speed of 8.7Mb, while overall speeds for the UK fell by 0.1Mb to 4.8Mb.
Speed test results for last month showed that although Virgin Media customers saw an average speed drop of 0.5Mb, the cable broadband giant still beat off competitors to keep its position at the top.
| It will be very interesting to see how the take-up of superfast broadband will affect speeds over the coming year |
O2 (www.O2.co.uk) came in second place - and top of the ADSL copper wire providers - with an average download speed of 5.7Mb, followed by TalkTalk (www.Talktalk.co.uk) on 4Mb.
None of the other providers listed in May’s results, including BT (www.BT.com), Plusnet (www.Plus.net) and Sky (www.Sky.com) managed to break through the 4Mb barrier.
The study also highlighted the effect of network congestion on download speeds. Average speeds peaked at 5.4Mb between midnight and 8am, but dropped to a low of 4.7Mb during the evening when most people are online.
Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: “Many consumers have benefitted from faster download speeds as packages have been upgraded over the past year. But as ISPs advertise speeds of up to 20Mb and 24Mb broadband, they risk disappointing customers if they can’t deliver real improvements.
“Saying that, it will be very interesting to see how the take-up of superfast broadband will affect speeds over the coming year as more people sign up to Virgin Media’s 50Mb broadband package and BT continues its rollout of its 40Mb Infinity network,” he added.
Source: Broadband.co.uk
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