Ofcom is reported to be unhappy with the level of information being made available to consumers about their broadband speeds. Under a voluntary code of conduct signed in December 2008, ISPs agreed to provide customers with an accurate estimate of the broadband speed they have signed up to - not only providing what the maximum speed could be, but explain why speeds may actually be lower. Ofcom is concerned that the degree of transparency originally promised by ISPs including Sky, Virgin Media and BT has fallen short and has announced that as a body, it will be looking to tighten up the code this year.
As covered on the Guardian website, the code of practice was originally drawn up because customers were complaining about broadband speeds and now, due to increased demand (for iPlayer and other video services), customers are again reporting dissatisfaction with actual speeds - sometimes much slower than they had expected from their ISP.
Ofcom conducted a mystery shopper survey between 30 October and 30 November last year, conducting over 1,200 telephone and web enquiries to establish the quality of information received about maximum and potential speeds. Although Ofcom has not divulged the worst offenders, across the board, the figures are still disappointing. Around 42% of 'customers' had to ask for a maximum speed estimate whilst in 15% of enquiries, customers were not given the information at all. Of the 85% of shoppers who were given a maximum speed estimate, three quarters of those were not actually warned that the speed could be much slower. The voluntary code of conduct would appear to have fallen by the wayside.
In an article posted on zdnet, Ofcom's chief executive, Ed Richards was quoted as saying: "Consumers are now receiving more accurate information at the point of sale about their broadband service. But our mystery shopping research reveals there is still significant further progress to be made, particularly in relation to the checkers used to calculate line speeds."
Proposals under discussion include ensuring ISPs clearly state the online speed prior to consumers providing their bank details or MAC code. Ofcom also wants ISPs to be clearer as to why the broadband speed may actually be slower than published in promotional material and are also looking into giving consumers the right to cancel their agreements (without a penalty) should the speed be significantly lower than what they had been led to believe. Ofcom also wants to regulate how online speed is calculated since ISPs use different metrics.
The timing of the Ofcom press release coincided with BT's announcement that it is upgrading over 300 of its exchanges across the UK by summer 2011. Visit Computer Weekly's site to see whether the upgrade is coming to an exchange near you...
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