Broadband News
Mobile broadband speeds still disappointing consumers
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Average mobile broadband speeds stood at just over 1Mb in 2009 - despite providers advertising ever-faster top speeds.
New research from more than 6,000 mobile broadband speed tests showed that average speeds increased by just 0.2Mb during 2009, even though many ISPs boosted their advertised top speed from 3.6Mb to 7.2Mb.
“Despite a continued failing to meet customer expectations and a history of complaints, the mobile broadband industry continues to use unrealistic speed claims as one of its main sales techniques,” said researchers.
Although most mobile broadband providers now advertise top speeds of up to 7.2Mb - a speed which dongles are capable of achieving in theory - some parts of the UK are still on a maximum of up to 1.8Mb, and few providers can even deliver that.
Vodafone Mobile Broadband (www.Vodafone.co.uk) is capable of the fastest theoretical speeds at up to 14.4Mb, but even when the ISP announced the development in August last year, it warned customers that they would only receive typical speeds of between 1Mb and 4mMb, even in the fastest areas.
Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: “A number of different factors affect mobile broadband speeds, from buildings and trees blocking your signal to how many people are on the network or how far you are from your local mobile phone mast.
“Even though speeds are advertised as ‘up to’, mobile broadband providers need to do more to ensure that consumers know it is almost impossible to reach speeds of 7.2Mb - or even 3.6Mb in some parts of the country.”
O2 Mobile Broadband (www.O2.co.uk) has recently been trialling Long Term Evolution (LTE), a new 4G mobile broadband technology that allows far faster speeds. It is theoretically capable of speeds of 150Mb and over, but delivered around 8Mb in recent real-world trials.
Source: Broadbandgenie.co.uk
Compare mobile broadband packages
| 500MB (30 days) | Small 500MB (12 months) | 1GB (1month) | Pay up front | |||||
| Monthly charge | £7.50 | £10.00 | £10.21 | Pay as you go | ||||
| Dongle/Laptop costs | £19.00 | £0.99 | £10.20 | £39.99 | ||||
| Usage limit | 500MB | 500MB | 1GB | Unlimited | ||||
| Speed (up to) | 7.2Mb | 7.2Mb | 7.2Mb | 4.5Mb | ||||
| Minimum contract | 1 month | 12 months | 1 month | No contract | ||||
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