Broadband News

Top Dog Internet Providers Listed

(18-12-06) - Pipex and PlusNet have ranked among the top five ADSL broadband providers according to a report by Epitiro, a customer experience analyst for internet services.

BT topped the chart in terms of technical performance for the period of July to September 2006, while AOL and Orange were knocked out of the top five by relative newcomers PlusNet, who were also joined by Demon and Virgin.

Epitiro tested nine of the UK’s leading ADSL broadband providers on the speed and reliability of their internet connections, how long it takes to connect to the internet, file upload and download speeds and performance of both ping and DNS lookup – all from the customer’s perspective.

Gavin Johns from Epitiro said: “Consumers want a fast internet service, but it must also be reliable and resilient. There are a variety of performance indicators that deliver for different types of users. For example, connection reliability or downtime is very important. There’s no point having a fast connection if it is not available when you want to use it.”

Despite the good news about technical performance, 462,000 speed tests on BroadbandChoices showed an average speed of only 3.59Mb.

Chris Eagle, BroadbandChoices Commercial Manager, warned: “ISPs need to think carefully about how they market themselves. Too many customers expect an 8Mb connection without understanding that this is unrealistic in the case of most households as the speed decreases the further the customer’s connection is from their local exchange.”