Broadband customers to get speed information

Broadband shoppers will receive better information about speeds before they commit to a contract under new protections announced by Ofcom.

In future, providers will always have to give a minimum guaranteed speed to a potential customer at the point of sale. If that customer’s speed then drops below the promised level, broadband firms will have one month to improve performance before they must let customers walk away penalty-free.

But consumer groups warned that the new regulations did not go far enough.

Richardneudegg,headof regulation at uswitch.com, said: “What we really need is for this information to be opened up so that consumers can compare different provider speeds side-byside in order to make an informed decision about the service.”