The Gadget Show: Broadband Campaign (Mon. 12th)

For anyone interested...

Channel 5's The Gadget Show - next Monday 12th 8pm.

"Broadband Campaign
Join us in our campaign to find the truth about broadband."

Recently discussed here on TBB, 'Up to 8mb' advertising etc.

Thanks for that

What's the betting they over simplify & get the total wrong end of the stick.

Seems they are campaigning to get advertised speeds more in line with actual speeds. More people who cannot grasp the concept of "up to" as a technical limitation of the technology?

We shall wait & see, but with their track record I'm not expecting it to be very good.

Currently adverts that are up to 24Mbps for example could deliver speeds lower than another providers up to 8Mbps service, but for the consumer which would look faster before signing up.

Yes on ADSL2+ they should connect at the same speed as ADSL or better generally, but it may be that one provider has better network capacity.

So laying out perhaps how much they expect speeds to drop from normal at peak times would give a guide.

Is it fair for providers to advertise an up to 8Mbps service but provision some people on a fixed speed 1Mbps service?

In reply to:

---

Is it fair for providers to advertise an up to 8Mbps service but provision some people on a fixed speed 1Mbps service?

---

Not in my opinion, I don't really do "fair" but a 1M service is not an up to 8M variable rate service it is a different product. If nothing else the upstream speed is different.

Agreed, I'm interested to see what is said, I've no idea on this one as I've not dealt with any of the people involved (that I know of at present)

Fair points. I just think we may be heading down the road of providers being forced into having to advertise "average" speeds, and personally I would see this as a step backwards and even more confusing for the consumer in the long run.

I think the current system of advertised speeds is fine, but maybe providers should be forced into making the small print clearer, easier for the average consumer to understand.

I think if providers had to give typical speed drop expectations during peak times we would end up in an even worse marketing minefield and the ASA would be kept even busier with broadband providers than they currently are. I mean what are they going to subtract the expected drop from in the first place? Would certain protocols drop more than others...etc etc.

"Average" speeds would simply be misleading.

They would give the customer no better information than is currently available and "average" is such a vague term as to be far more open to abuse than "up to" which at least has a specific meaning.

Your last point is very well made.

a Swedish example........


" Bredbandsbolaget and other Swedish ISPs are under fire for false advertising, because of their

Perhaps better to say

'up to 8Mbps'

25% of users expected to connect at 6Mbps or faster
50% of users expected to connect at 4Mbps or faster
Actual download speeds will vary according to Internet traffic conditions in addition to factors affecting connection speed.