Virgin Media has come top of Point Topic's Achieved Speed Perception Index (ASPI), which compares the advertised download speeds offered by UK ISPs to the speed consumers actually end up receiving. Sky Broadband, the previous front runner, was the only provider to have fallen down the list.

The RATIO of advertised to achieved speeds reported for major UK ISPs offering packages above 2Mbps has been pasted in below:


It's noted that take-up of Sky's 8Mbps to 16Mbps packages has increased but it appears as though the provider has not been matching this with enough additional capacity, hence the lower real-world performance.

Interestingly the survey data is too old to include Sky's recent "truly unlimited" promise on its 16Mbps package, which could cause further detriment to the operators service quality.

Overall consumers believe that the broadband speeds experienced are getting closer to the promises of the operators in the 'up to' 16Mbps segment. Speeds over 20Mbps appear to be less achievable compared to the previous data.

Interestingly over 20Mbps is where ADSL2+ and cable packages appear to increase their significance. Speeds experienced by cable users approach advertised speeds in packages advertised over 20Mbps more frequently than in the case of DSL services where there are significant technical barriers to achieving high end performance.

We find that curious because only a tiny number of niche cable operators and business providers currently offer speeds above 20Mbps, with Virgin Media yet to launch its new 50Mbps package.