While so far there has been no move by the regulator Ofcom to ensure that all UK broadband providers advertise average broadband speeds as well as “top” broadband speeds, there is growing pressure from UK consumers in this particular direction. A number of parties believe that within the next three years broadband service providers in the UK will be forced to reveal not only top speeds and also average speeds in different areas of the UK, which should give a more useful snapshot of your local broadband connectivity speeds.
One of the major issues, both historically and now, is the fact that each and every customer’s broadband speed will be affected significantly by the distance from their home base to their nearest telecom exchange. It is also well known that the “final mile” is where the vast majority of the broadband speed is lost although there have been significant developments in this particular area of late.
Broadband speeds have been something of a bugbear for many UK broadband users who have often signed up to deals promising superfast broadband only to find that their personal experience may be very different. Hopefully, as pressure continues to build from the consumer market, the regulator will step in and take control of advertising so that potential customers will be aware of both top speeds and average speeds in their area.