Broadband firms slash advertised speeds
Eleven firms cut speeds under deals Only Virgin Media on the rise
By Most broadband providers have been forced to cut their advertised speeds following a recent rule change to prevent misleading claims, a consumer group has found.
Analysis of the biggest broadband providers carried out by Which? found 11 companies have had to cut the advertised speed of some of their deals since the new rules came into effect in May.
The cheapest deals have dropped by an average 41 per cent.
BT, EE, John Lewis Broadband, Plusnet, Sky, Zen Internet, Post Office, SSE, Talktalk and Utility Warehouse had previously advertised their standard broadband deals as “up to 17Mbps”. Their new advertised speed is now more than a third lower, at 10Mbps or 11Mbps, Which? said.
Under the new rules, home broadband providers must now make sure at least 50 per cent of their customers can achieve advertised speeds at peak time.
They had previously been allowed to advertise “up to” speeds as long as they were available to a minimum of just 10 per cent of customers, resulting in widespread complaints from government, consumer groups and the public.
Which? found across all the deals on offer from the 12 biggest providers, the advertised speeds from “up to 17Mbps” to “up to 100Mbps” had fallen by an average 15 per cent.
Only Virgin Media’s adver- tised speeds had gone up since the change.
Before the new rules came into effect, Which? found evidence British households were paying for broadband services that were on average 51 per cent slower than advertised.
Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home services, said: “Customers will now have a much clearer idea of the speeds that can be achieved when they are shopping around for broadband.”
A National Infrastructure Commission spokesman said: “Today’s findings demonstrate the slower broadband speeds that households and businesses are actually working with, but if we are to make a lasting difference, as well as tackling the immediate issues, we need to invest properly for the future.”
newsdeskts@scotsman.com