Advertising must be catchy and simple - the very idea of making a person do maths for any advertisement (unless a Google job offering) is absurd. Especially those in the ISP arena, you are barking mad!

You've just countered your whole argument.

Most people don't want to do the maths, whether it be simple or not. They aren't interested in Mbits and bobs! And those that are cant complain that the answers are too difficult!

I install photovoltaic solar panels and other renewable energy systems. The average client is reasonably well educated and wants an understanding of what is going on. Some will ask all the technical questions they think they need to. With most of them you can see their eyes glaze over when they get the answers!

Other customers dont want to try to understand that side of things. They just want the detail translated to how they best understand it. Simplified for them.

For the average broadband consumer, information made available on "how many hours of gaming can I get on a 45Gig limit" or "how fast will an album download" is all they really want. Not a change to internationally recognised standards!

Others from a more technical background (like me!) crave a better understanding of how it all works. That is why we frequent sites like this to get advice and support from those who do know what they are talking about.

There is no point in asking a question if you aren't willing to accept anybody else's answers!

Okay there is NOT a curve of the actual sync speeds, I don't believe SamKnows asks for that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjo... has the closest that was published on the BBC, but in the past I think they have covered distance/sync speed graphs

Which is not unlike the theory eg. https://cyberstore.tpg.com.au/images/migrate_faq2.gif

For those who hate graphs, a simple table is at
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/2846-93-of-teleph... which was based on the distribution of line lengths reported by BT at the time, which again Ofcom if I recall have covered over the years too.

Thus it should be ZERO surprise to the industry and Ofcom that not many will get the maximum sync speed.

I agree that only a modest proportion will get full sync speed I was just interested to know what that proportion actually is in real life. Particularly if 2+ products are being labelled 16 or 20M it could be more than one thinks.

None of any of it should be a surprise, which makes you wonder why OFCOM are spending money researching the fact that rate adaptive services don't always go at full speed and contention means the throughput reduces at busy times

Maybe Ofcom does not have the technical staff, or it wanted some real world data.

How much money is Ofcom spending on the SK monitoring - no idea. Daren't ask in case it upsets me.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

How much money is Ofcom spending on the SK monitoring - no idea. Daren't ask in case it upsets me.

For anyone aware of Gershwin's music, in his early days of composing he went for tuition from Ravel.

At some point Ravel asked him how much he was earning from his existing compositions. You can guess the rest.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

ultimately end user speed is what its all about.

However not the basis on which is it is advertised. Go figure.

The BBC do not show any information about the sync speed that people achieve, in order to compare that to the advertised maximum sync speed.

The sync speed data I expect wont be much different. Higher but I dont think will be a huge swing. Also I am not sure what you mean by the advertisment been connection speed only, how bizzarre would that be to sell a product on connection speed and not capabilty only. Of course consumers will consider it to be throughput capability why would they think otherwise.

Both the ASA and ofcom have been overly soft since adsl max was launched, we went from 2.2mbit (overheads added on top) to 8mbit sync speeds without the advertising taking account of it, and then we seen fixed speed products slowly dwindle away leaving those with poor sync's forced to pay for a product spec which was nothing like what they were getting. Before you ramble on about cost been the same we all know its an artifical pricing model implemented to boost takeup, before that kicked in BT used to charge different prices for different speed ports. The way adsl has been sold here has been wrong for years and I am glad I am not alone in thinking it.

Sadly I dont think much will change, ofcom and the ASA are too concerned about damaging profits for those they regulate so all that will probably happen is a little slap on the risk and the isps will be 'asked' to explain things more at the point of sale. For example ofcom already have a policy where they expect isps to offer a lower speed product to consumers who get nothing close to the speed advertised however its voluntary for the isps to oblige which most do not.

Also I am not sure what you mean by the advertisment been connection speed only

Look at the numbers - up to 8M, up to 24M. Can only be connection speeds not throughputs.

Bulldog did indeed start the 8000 farce, but 2M was never 2M on a speed tester only 1870 - 1900. ADSL has always always been inclusive of some overhead.

I was very happy with the move away from the fixed speed charging regime, it made 2M a lot cheaper and higher speeds economical, even if it's to hard for some to comprehend that it costs no more to provide

A lower speed product would be pointless as it doesn't cost any less to provide - same backhaul, same line, same port cost. I expect we'll see some lower speed products if the ad rules change in order to inflate the % achieved numbers artificially. After all, MaxDSL was built to allow sale of 4M or whatever service based on line capability.

I note OP hasn't returned since 1st day, having set cat amongst the pigeons

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I note OP hasn't returned since 1st day, having set cat amongst the pigeons

Banned, hiding in shame or embarrassment, admitted he has lost OR is now posting under his original ID.

Do not bring politics into this, or cite your associated prejudices with the gutter press. Its completely irrelevant, as well is the status quo, which is technically a constant, but for advertising purposes not a requirement.

Advertising is there to inform, not educate. You, along with the rest of your dinosaur like minded kind, in denial of the needs which citizens feel betrayed by, that is the highest number wins. Its all irrelevant unless a unit can be understood and simply asking people to understand binary (which is the basis of computing) is not going to alleviate this problem.

Measuring in MB will happen, it must.