The latest study of 3,000 people who completed a speed test (180,000 in total) for Computeractive has revealed that 62% of broadband users receive less than 50% of their ISP's advertised speed. In addition 25% received just a quarter of the headline figure.

Sadly such news will come as little surprise to many and has become an increasing problem since the inception of more variable 'up to' 8Mbps+ products; few knowledgeable surfers expect to get the headline rate.

Due to this, Computeractive, Thinkbroadband and BroadbandChoices have teamed up to launch the 'Crystal Clear Broadband' campaign:


To be fair many UK ISP's do offer a rough estimate of the expected speed for any given phone line, usually as part of their output from an integrated 'availability checker'. During our recent ISP listings update we noted that many providers now adopt this, with only a few exceptions.

Unfortunately even the more realistic estimates can often be incorrect, especially where an ISP suffers from congestion or utilises deliberate speed reduction technology.

To this end it would be helpful to have such a system as the one proposed above, though getting Ofcom to act could prove difficult. The campaign has also begun a government e-petition - here, which rarely provokes constructive action on the part of our leaders.