Broadband at peak times is half the speed firms promise

BROADBAND customers are being short- changed and getting only around half the speed they pay for during the busiest times, the industry watchdog warned yesterday.

Despite the lightning-fast speeds regularly advertised, in reality these are ‘not consistent throughout the day’ and ‘fall significantly during busy periods’, a report found.

In its first ‘Comparing Service Quality’ analysis, Ofcom looked at speeds offered by firms and what they actually provide, measured in megabits per second – the amount of data transferred each second.

It said users on a standard broadband deal – offering up to 17 megabits (Mb) per second – typically only received a level of 9.8 during the evening.

The report added: ‘Many customers using standard “up to 17Mb” broadband receive speeds that may be too slow for their day-to- day activities – such as streaming films or playing online games.’

Additionally, just 56 per cent of those complaining about their service were satisfied with how their problem was handled, prompting demands for the industry to ‘up its game’.

Ofcom’s Sharon White said: ‘We’re determined to help bring about a service revolution in the telecoms sector, where consistency and excellence becomes the norm, and customers always come first.’

The research into home broadband speeds shows that in November 2016, nine per cent of customers on Virgin Media’s ‘up to 50Mb’ package and six per cent on its ‘up to 100Mb’ package received average speeds of less than ten megabits per second between 8 and 10pm. The report also investigated many other aspects of internet provider performance. Almost nine in ten broadband customers, 86 per cent, were satisfied with the reliability of their service, and 83 per cent were satisfied with their online speeds. Virgin Media customers reported higher than average levels of satisfaction for both measures, scoring 90 per cent for reliability and 91 per cent for their broadband speed.

BT and TalkTalk’s broadband customers reported lower than average levels of satisfaction with online speed, at 80 per cent and 71 per cent respectively.

Ofcom also launched an online tool to compare various services in a simple, visual format.

The checker allows phone and broadband customers to compare how different providers rate for answering customer calls, handling complaints, and reliability of their services.

The data draws on consumer research and complaints figures, as well as statistics from providers that have never been published before. The findings should give providers an incentive to improve their service quality and fix recurring problems. They will also help consumers who are shopping around for a new provider.

Earlier this year, BT was fined a record £ 42million after it risked damaging businesses by taking too long to deliver superfast broadband connections.