Ofcom report on broadband speeds

[#1]

This may be of interest.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/broadbandspeedsjy
Interesting that they state that Plusnet :average is 3.8 to 4.9M - whereas BT get 3.8 to 4.2M ! ?

Plusnet clearly state this  on the home page:
"Broadband is described as 'up to' 8Mb because download speeds will vary depending on your telephone line and where you live. The average speed on up to 8Mb broadband is 5-6Mb. BT Wholesale estimates that 78% of customers will get download speeds of 4Mb and above. Download speeds will vary a lot in the first 10 days after connection and will then become more consistent."

[#2]

Here is the BBC report.....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8171074.stm
How Plusnet is expected to compete with cable beats me.

[#3]

Yes - typical BBC journalist(s) that don't understand the technology !

[#4]

I'm lucky.  I get 6Mb so have no complaints.

[#5]

have you filled in the BBC Feedback form to tell the truth about Virgin?

[#6]

To say what?

[#7]

Watched the BBC article on their random breakfast show this morning.
Was not even remotely surprised by the lack of knowledge demonstrated, which is to be expected given their useless journalism standards demonstrated in previous articles.
According to the woman who came runner up in the Apprentice last year, it impacts on the ability to retrieve email.

[#8]

I just did a BT speedtest....
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
   Your DSL connection rate: 3040 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
   IP profile for your line is - 2500 kbps
   Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 2238 kbps

Rory Cellan Jones on the BBC Breakfast programme has just explained about cable and the ISPs sitting on the back of BT.

[#9]

Quote from: artmo

To say what?

To say the Virgin are cable and it is impossible to get those speeds on my Exchange - not yet 21CN

[#10]

Quote from: mal0z

Interesting that they state that Plusnet :average is 3.8 to 4.9M - whereas BT get 3.8 to 4.2M ! ?

Do you know the reason or do you want me to supply a possible explanation?

[#11]

I saw the item this morning and thought the Ofcom guy's answers were at best wishy washy.

Quote

BBC "So what should people do if they are not getting the speeds they are paying for?" OFCOM "They should contact their ISP" BBC "Can people ask for a refund?" OFCOM "Yes, people should contact their ISP and ask what speed they should expect" BBC "Is there an independent way for people to check their broadband speed?" OFCOM "Yes, people should contact their ISP"

Not a direct word for word quote but that's how the conversation went

[#12]

He also pointed out that he wasn't an expert in consumer law if you saw the same programme as I did.

[#13]

But he did seem to have a single stock answer for every question.
I wasn't impressed (at that time of the morning it takes a lot though)
As I understand it it's not the ISPs that will be laying fibre around the UK.

[#14]

An interesting article by Samknows on the reaction of people to the report - / media coverage
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/ofcom-speed-survey-reaction-787.html
I liked this bit
"Turning to the reactions, the most common cry is “I am paying for 8Meg and not getting it”. Well sorry to rain on your parade, but you don’t “pay for 8Meg” at all -  you pay for a “variable rate service that will connect between 288k and 8128k depending on line conditions, interference and other factors”. Obviously the advertising creatives slim down this message to “8 Meg” for popular consumption but the reality is that 8M ADSL is a rate adaptive service. Nobody loses out by getting 4M on the 8M service as there isn’t a cheaper 4M service in any case, so quite how these people are losing out is beyond me. So the first lesson to understand is that most ADSL broadband services are variable rate “up to….” on account of the physics."

[#15]

What the chance of the BBC reporting that?