ISP Broadband in UK and US

In the words of Scott Adams' Dilbert: "Don't think of it as criminal fraud, think of it as marketing."

source (US)

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission released its first comprehensive study of broadband speeds across the United States on Tuesday. The study revealed that many Internet providers still advertise speeds higher than they deliver.

source (UK)

From April next year, providers will no longer be able to advertise maximum speeds for net packages unless 10% of customers can actually get them.

So in the US, you get whatever the broadband ISP wants to deliver to you, regardless of advertised speeds. And in the UK, as long as 1 in 10 subscribers get the advertised speed, the other 9 in 10 get what they get.

I am not surprised. I mean, after all, for-profit corporations are going to act like for-profit corporations and I'd be silly to expect otherwise. But, -yeesh-, I am completely disgusted.

My company, (A US Broadband ISP), was recently voted best ISP in the US by PC Magazine....

That feels good, and yes it's on a cable backbone

reply to post by macFiachna

Actually this change in regulations is very stupid and will most likely lead to slower speeds for everyone.
The thing is with DSL technology the speed you get is based on the distance from central and the quality of the copper wires in the ground. If you are 2km or further away from central then speed will be drop drastically.

So i guess from now on you will only get 1mbit connections in UK.

I work for an ISP and believe it or not, we actually DELIVER the speeds that our customers are promised. Most of the time, speed issues are caused by customer supplied equipment; IE routers, cables and wireless adapters. Here are some common issues I take calls fo rEVERY DAY.


1. Wireless speeds are usually slower than wired connections.

2. You ISP has no access to your external router (Cisco, Linksys, Netgear, Belkin etc...) and it's functionality is NOT the ISP's problem or responsibility.

3. If your computer was built 10 years ago then most likely you will have speed issues caused by older hardware. We still have people call that are using Windows 98! Out of date eternet or wireless adapters, or out of date drivers, can affect connection speeds.

4. What the customer interprets as a "speed issue" may not be an issue with the internet service at all. Often times we get customers that think because they got on the 50MB plan that it will speed up their COMPUTER. It does not.

reply to post by DJDigitalGem


Excellent, DJDigitalGem!

You know, maybe I was a bit hasty. I was cranky about marketing practices in general and did not really stop to think before posting. The BBC's report that at least 1 in 10 subscribers have to achieve the advertised speed does not mean only 1 in 10 will get it. Who knows, maybe 9 in 10 will actually get the advertised speed. And maybe the US report was simply a survey of subscribers, who would be experiencing the sort of non-ISP related issues you describe here.

Right. Note to self: dismiss crankiness and think before posting next time...

reply to post by DJDigitalGem

But it is a big problem with dsl technologies. Take for example adsl2+. Most people dont live close enough to the central to get even 20mbits. I for example live a little over 2km from the central and thanks to line noise i cannot get the router to sync above 10mbit/1mbit.

And btw.. I plenty of old computers that actually manage to use all my bandwidth.
Even my 533mhz amiga system has no problem maxing out my line which is at about 10mbit.
Same thing with my old amd k6-2 450mhz box that i used as server. Had no problem downloading linux updates at full speed even though that computer is ancient by todays standards.

Fortunately fo rme I no longer work for a DSL company LOL. Yeah the further away you live form a DSL hub the slower your connection is.

When I said older computers I meant something running Windows 98 with a 10 GB hard drive and one of the first ethernet cards ever made

I just got off of one of these calls! Yes, I am at work right now LOL. The guy wanted to knwo why he was only getting a 20MB download with his 5 year old router in place. With the router bypased he gets 52MB for his download. Hmmm.......

High speeds = newer equipment. Plain and simple folks.... Upgrade the old equipment. It will all be moot when the power grid goes out though LOL.