BT Wholesale, suppliers to over eight million people, has recognised that many customers are becoming disillusioned by the difference between advertised download speeds and the actual speeds they’re receiving.
The BroadbandChoices speed test league table for February 2008 showed that even the most reliable ISPs were only delivering their advertised speeds 55% of the time. BroadbandChoices subscribers reacted to this story by sending in their accounts of disappointing download speeds, including BT (www.bt.com) customers who had registered speeds as low as 0.8Mb from an 8Mb connection.
Guy Bradshaw of BT Wholesale had the following to say on the subject of advertising:
‘The industry needs to join together with Ofcom to agree a set of principles as to how these messages should be communicated and advertised so that the understanding with the consumer is as accurate as it can be.’
BT Wholesale informs their customers, the ISPs, that the speeds of their 8Mb DSL Max service will vary from user to user. It is then the responsibility of the ISPs to pass this information onto their own customers.
Factors such as whether you live in an urban or rural area, and the distance that you live from your local exchange can dramatically affect your line speed, regardless of the deal that you’re signed up to. Guy Bradshaw suggests that there is no way around this:
‘The reality is if you are very far from an exchange or there are environmental factors then your speed will come down and there is not much we can do in the short-term to address that problem.’
Michael Phillips, Product Director at BroadbandChoices, thinks ISPs have little to gain by concealing this information before customers sign up:
‘It should be made explicit, at the point of sale, that potential broadband customers will receive variable speeds from their connection. If this was the case, it would help to manage customer’s expectations, and reduce complaints against ISPs for not delivering their promises. Check out our 2007 speed test awards to see who hit their mark most often.’
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