I am not eccentric, I am concentric - Salvador Dali
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Ofcom says ISP broadband speeds gap widens
THE FAIRLY TOOTHLESS UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has warned that the gap between advertised broadband speeds and actual speeds has widened.
Ofcom reported that while average broadband speeds have increased by 10 per cent in the past six months, internet service providers (ISPs) are advertising connection bandwidths that are even farther from the actual bandwidth received by consumers. Ofcom claims that the average advertised speed was 15Mbits/s, more than twice the 6.8Mbits/s average it reported consumers actually received.
Then there's Ofcom's confusion in first claiming, "Superfast broadband services are now available to most UK homes," while then saying, "However, over 75 per cent of UK residential broadband connections are currently delivered by copper ADSL telephone lines."
It went on to explain, "Speeds for these consumers depend on the length and quality of the line running from their home to the local exchange. The closer a consumer lives to the exchange, the better the performance."
How it concluded therefore that 'superfast' broadband is available to "most UK homes" remains a mystery.
Ofcom seems to provide a vague picture, saying that "most UK homes" have 'superfast' broadband service, yet it goes on to say that 75 per cent of homes are served broadband over copper wire. The problem, as Ofcom points out, is that the available bandwidth diminishes quickly as you get further away from the exchange. So perhaps a more accurate statement from the regulator would be "75 per cent of UK residents might experience high bandwidth broadband if they live near an exchange".
It also seems that Ofcom has been reading too much of the industry's marketing material. What exactly is 'superfast' broadband anyway? Going by Ofcom's own figures, the average download speed of those on copper connections is between 3Mbits/s and 11Mbits/s, speeds that we would say are adequate at the top end but hardly 'superfast', especially at the low end.
Since Virgin Media flogs broadband through fibre optic cables, it's no surprise that it heads the list of what customers can expect in terms of connection speeds and the firm was quick to pounce on the report to take the moral high ground.
Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media said, "We remain concerned that people paying for fast broadband are still being misled and believe it is absolutely essential that consumers have all the information they need to make an informed choice. We once again urge the ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] to bring about a rapid change in the way broadband services are being advertised."
We agree with James. The ASA should force ISPs to not only state realistic broadband bandwidths but also detail all the traffic management polices an ISP might employ. But given that Ofcom seems to do little more than report on the sorry state of broadband connectivity in the UK there's little hope that anything will actually happen. µ
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It's not simply resistance, if it was you could just boost the signal, it's because ADSL tries to put a digital signal on an old analog system, and to do that it uses tricks and various frequencies, now over longer lines (and more switches/connections) the interference causes coherency of that signal to be lost, meaning less information can be carried simultaneously meaning slower speed.
However a telecom company can easily put down a fiber connection to a new local small exchange to alleviate such issues, and that's what's done in many mainland european places, more and more the signal gets closer and closer to the actual premises via fiber until eventually you don't use any phone lines at all and just get a new connection in the house.
That requires those companies to invest and have a year round effort going though, and the equipment is often bought in the US and such so they have to plan ahead and decide what is most future-proof and what is reliable but also what they can get a good deal on (bulk is cheaper), and then they have to wait a while, sometimes a few months, for the whole setup to arrive and then if it's new they have to brief their installers on the operation and assembly.
And that's all very basic of course but you need to have some decent management to make it go smooth too.
It's physics mate.
There are two systems in place, one uses electrons to pass a signal, the other uses photons. You're slightly wrong on the speed of light principle. Here's an outline;
1) Copper cable, which works by conducting electrons through a length of cable. While copper is a metal and thus a conductor, it exhibits resistance along its length (resistivity - resistance relative to length), limiting the conducting ability over distance. This is why people will get better speeds the closer they live to the telephone exchange. It is also the reason why people who live in old houses/old areas have slow connections - the copper has been in the ground for a long and may have outdated insulation, and may have oxidised the copper.
2) Fibre optic cable, which is a simple thin tube that has an internal reflective surface. Light particles (photons) are fed through the tube, which, due to the reflective surface will bounce their way to the user. That's over-simplified, but it's the core. The services offered by Virgin that actually give you the quoted speeds use this technology. The only thing that limits optical cables are the junction boxes and signal processing units - this is why Virgin has far more scope than copper-based ISPs to increase their line speeds. I saw they were trying out 200Mbps in Cambridge last year. Copper lines seem to get stuck at 8Mbps, which is where it'll stay I think.
Sometimes you see people say that Virgin/other ISPs "throttle" their networks to provide everyone with a stable service. In the case of copper networks, this is due to load and the physical incapability of copper lines to carry the load. In fibre optic networks, it's a case of the signal processing units being a bottleneck. This will continue to improve.
Hi Derek. I wrote out a long clear answer, but it wont post. I'll try tomorrow
Great article. I have been trying for a long time to understand download speeds. There cannot be a home in the land or in the countryside that hasn't got a telephone. You cannot have a slow phone conversation. It all happens at the speed of light. So why doesn't everybody get the same speed? My brother in Holland gets a download of 40 Mb/s. Not "up to" whatever that means. Copper cable is the same as fibre optic. They both work at the speed of light. (186,000 miles per second). Very fast. So does the electric light. Somebody isn't with this. I am not a Physicist, just old. Ofcom isn't with it. If the ASA had any clout these "up to" speeds would be banned. Everyones car can do up to 120 mph or whatever but they don't. Someone somewhere must understand this. Its not quicker for big business than little business or rich or upper classes. It's the same as for us peasants. Fact.
Someone explain it to me, Please. We are all being conned somewhere.
Cheers DTR.
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We've already been quoted in the Press with our opinions about Ofcom (Richard Brown our COO could not decide between, witless, clueless or toothless).
This is just another nail in their coffin on broadband regulation.
The author has already eloquently highlighted the glaring anomalies in their report - and the only thing we want to add is:
When will Ofcom be removed from regulatory authority of an industry that they have zero clue about.
Shocking waste of money
Shocking waste of time
Shocking that so few are prepared to voice their displeasure with this boys club.
Wispa Limited
http://wispa.me
I'm no telecomms engineer, but I always notice minimal improvements in line speed. Despite remaining with the same package from my ISP, TalkTalk - the line speed has crept up from from max 500kB/s to 800kB/s now most recently I see 1.2MB/s. But guess what - every time it's gone up, the service has become more unreliable. I did have a conversation with a techie once, who said that with line speed increases on copper cable, you can expect more dropouts if it's not capable of maintaining said speed.
Anyone think this is to boost their average service speed? Ofcom need to sort out their little games, because I for one am not getting a reliable service.
Spare a thought for the many who have ludicrously slow 'Broadband' speeds. Miles of copper, and Ofcom and BT between them don't give a monkey's. New Industrial revolution? Don't make me laugh. Never mind what is 'advertised' - we would settle for 2mb, let along 20!!!