After a new research report revealed that UK broadband service providers are not delivering broadband speeds and connection quality they promise their customers while signing up for the service, the consumer group Which? has come forward in favour of the customers urging broadband providers to give customers the speed and service they pay for.
In a recent survey conducted by the consumer group among 2,012 British adults, it was found that three out of every five respondents suffer from problems related to their broadband connection.
While 45 percent of the respondents complained of slow download speeds, some 58 percent of them confirmed they experienced slow speeds frequently or all the time.
More than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents reported a loss of service and said they had to wait for two days to get it fixed up, with one in 10 waiting a week or more.
Richard Lloyd, executive director at Which?, said “The internet is an essential part of modern life, yet millions of us are getting frustratingly slow speeds and having to wait days to get reconnected when things go wrong.”
“It’s less superfast broadband, more super-slow service from companies who are expecting people to pay for speeds they may never get”.
The consumer group has launched a campaign called ‘Give Us Broadband Speed Guaranteed’ and wants Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to give customers written speed estimates at the start of the contract, allow people to cancel their contracts if they don’t get speeds promised to them with refunds for loss of service.
“Broadband providers need to give customers the right information and take responsibility for resolving problems,” said Mr Lloyd.
Which? is calling on the public to support it’s campaign by signing a petition on the group’s website.
[Source: BBC]
Anyone would think Which? don’t know how broadband works. Speeds received are governed by so many variables that what every house can receive will be different; so it is not possible to state in an advert what a person is likely to get. Most companies have calculators on the website to give at least a ballpark figure.
Another huge problem is wireless radios. Most older laptop systems can’t cope with a speed above 25-30mbps, and a lot of phones can’t go above 10-20; meaning no matter what speed you pay for, you’re not going to get faster than that. If you don’t have a hardwired system in the house to run an accurate speed test on, you’re likely to assume, wrongly, that that is the speed you are getting in your house.