Broadband ISPs 'misleading' the public

Comparison site lashes out at service providers

Comparison site Broadband Expert has accused ISPs of misleading the public over connection speeds.

The site made the claims following a survey of more than 18,500 customers which showed that UK broadband users experience an average download speed of 2.95Mbps. This is despite the fact that many ISPs promote speeds of 8Mbps.

"Despite ongoing pressure from Ofcom and various consumer groups, broadband providers are still misleading the public over broadband speeds," said William Harvey, technical director at Broadband Expert.

"Current advertising campaigns like the one for Tiscali promise super-fast broadband [download] speeds of up to 8Mbps. Yet Tiscali came bottom of our test results with an average actual download speed of just 1.72Mbps.

"That is not super-fast by any stretch of the imagination and is over 1Mbps lower than the UK average."

Be Broadband topped the list of average download speeds at 6.07Mbps.

"Broadband providers can confuse consumers by stating maximum broadband speeds that are often achieved only by a very small percentage of subscribers," said Harvey.

"Providers should state the average download and upload speeds. This would give consumers a better idea of the sort of speeds they are likely to receive and would encourage providers to deliver better broadband products."