Posted: 12th Apr, 2010 By: MarkJ

The results from 957 respondents to our latest monthly survey have revealed that 56% of people are not happy with the real-world speed they receive from their broadband ISP. On the flip side this means that 44% are happy, which is not a small proportion.
Are you happy with the real-world service speed received?
No - 56.1%
Yes - 43.8%
How many GigaBytes do you download per month (pick closest)?
More than 30GB - 41%
10 – 20GB - 19.2%
I don’t know - 11.9%
20 - 30GB - 11.8%
5GB - 10.8%
2GB - 5.1%
What is the ADVERTISED speed of your package (pick closest)?
8Mbps - 59%
16Mbps to 24Mbps - 25.4%
0.5Mbps (512Kbps) to 2Mbps - 9.1%
More than 24Mbps - 4.3%
I don’t know - 1.8%
Dissatisfaction with real-world broadband speeds is nothing new. Part of the problem stems from the fact that existing broadband services are complicated, with speed being negatively impacted by many factors such as the length of your telephone line, electrical interference and poor home wiring. Providers must also take some of the blame for failing to deliver on what they promise.
When Ofcom used fake consumers to test compliance with its Code of Practice (CoP) on broadband speeds (
here) it found that 85% of callers were provided with an estimate of the maximum speed available on their broadband line before signing up with an ISP. However 42% had to prompt the ISP for their speed late in the sales process and 74% were not informed that their actual speed was likely to be below their maximum line speed.
The survey also found that broadband packages with an '
ADVERTISED' speed of around 8Mbps remain the most common, with 59% of respondents connected to one. Faster 16-24Mbps packages have gained ground to reach 25% and just 9% remain on slower 512Kbps (0.5Mbps) to 2Mbps packages.
This month's new survey asks "
How much real-world broadband speed is enough for YOUR needs (pick closest)?" and questions whether consumers would be willing to pay more for a faster service:
VOTE HERE.
UPDATE 13th April 2010I'll put this one down to being ill but the title and opening paragraph of this news was supposed to reflect "Dissatisfied" with speed and not the reverse. Corrected.