Ofcom's consumer panel is (again) demanding that ISPs reduce the gap between 'theoretical' broadband speeds, and those achieved in practice. In an open letter to Ofcom - the telcoms industry watchdog - the panel said it wants regulations in place to force ISPs to make the discrepancies more obvious to punters.
Furthermore, says the consumer panel's letter to Father Christmas, if the broadband speeds achieved are nowhere near those promised, customers should be able to change ISP without penalty. And anyone who has ever changed ISPs will say 'amen' to that.
Colette Bowe, chairman of the Ofcom Consumer Panel said: "We would like to see Ofcom leading discussions with industry to produce an enforceable code of practice that would be mandatory for ISPs. This code would establish agreed processes to give the customer the best information during and after the sales process, and to give them flexibility to move freely to different packages that reflect the actual speeds with which their ISPs are able to provide them."
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In October Bowe and her merry band of Ofcom consumer panellists slapped various ISPs for being less than honest about real-world broadband speeds. Alas, as the Ofcom consumer panel is an advisory body with no real power (within a relatively toothless organisation), these actions were met with little discernible effect.
Credit where it's due though - ISPs are little beggars when it comes to upselling their mystical internet prowess and I salute the consumer panel for continuing to gnaw that particular bone. I could certainly live with never again seeing the phrase 'up to' on broadband package advertising. It's a bit like quoted printer speeds. So long as they're theoretically possible (in a laboratory) manufacturers are happy to print them. It's not strictly dishonest, but it is casually misleading in the worst sense.
The distance a property is from the telephone exchange, the quality of the line itself and, I dunno, the position of the moon in relation to Uranus can all slow down broadband speeds. But if you don't ask, ISPs won't tell you that.
Comments
Peter Ridgers said: Surely it is in the hands of the consumer - any isp tries to sell you a contract with a minimum period tell them to forget it and tell them why Tell them - if I dont like your service I want the right to cancel - immediately at any time and without penalty Enough customers do that and isps will eventually get reasonable or die
Hopefully said: any legislation introduced will mean that ISPs stop obsessing about speed and get involved in a price war - thatd be best for consumers
MalcolmF said: Up to does mean exactly that but if ISPs want to flog a product they should have the guts to say From xx uo to yy and allow a fair pricevalue comparison Offering some working testware to show where the performance that is being paid for and not received would show honesty as well even moreso if it produced a log having pointed the finger to enable the customer to only pay for what he is getting as opposed to what was asked for
961 said: Chuffed detectorNot at allIm the thick end of 5 miles from the exchange as the wire runs and most of my work on the net is done between 9am and 730pm
chuffed detector said: Living next door to the dark and seedy inner city exchange may allow one to get 8Mbs but ones car sitting by the roadside may be the one taking the keys strokes and multiple hitsDont forget 961 that I am STILL highly chuffed is a vision of a lone surfer at 3am sucking on a wine gum
961 said: I get 37Mbps not 8 as stated in my above postHowever I am STILL highly chuffed
961 said: As you say the distance from the exchange and not as the crows flies either and the quality of the line is what matters here and the changing of the ISP to another will make not the slightest difference to thatBefore the latest up to 8Mbps product we had BT offering a fixed rate speed based on their own very conservative estimates My speed under that arrangement was 1Mbps Under the new rate adaptive system I currently get 8Mbps and as a result am highly chuffedWhat is it about the words up to that OFCOM doesnt understand
DownToSpeed said: Matt I think you are being far too kind to woodenchair Colette Bowe and her muted bandWhat the heck have they been doing for the last couple of yearsEveryone knows that most of us are only getting up to dial-up broadband speeds in the evenings and week-endsAs for Ofcom they are the perfumed pooper-scoopers of the ISPsAndthe ISPs are akin to the creative lamp-post companies offering jobs that allow one to earn upto 1K per week The obvious solution was for all the initial investments to go into modernising BT but its too late for that nowThe future solution will be in mass wireless broadband supplied with free router and brain tumours