UK broadband customers are getting less than half the broadband speed they expect. In this special report, we give an objective analysis of broadband speeds and show the top 5 fastest providers for April 2008.

During April 2008, Broadband-help.com users ran 8,766 speed tests across 15 of the best known UK broadband providers.

Results Summary

• Average download speed across all providers is 3.62Mbps (Meg).
• Average upload speed across all providers is 445Kbps.
• Fastest average download speeds (9.19 Meg) were from Be Unlimited.
• Slowest average download speeds (1.08 Meg) were from Demon.
• The most tested provider is Virgin Media.

The Top 5 Fastest Providers

Based on averages taken from user speed tests, the results are as follows:-

1. Be Unlimited - 9.19 Meg.
2. O2 Broadband - 6.5 Meg.
3. Virgin Media(Cable & non cabled products combined) - 4.89 Meg.
4. Sky Broadband - 4.31 Meg.
5. Zen Internet - 3.55 Meg.

Observations

There are some interesting issues raised from the results.

Firstly, there is a wide gap between the slowest (Demon at 1.08 Meg) and fastest (Be Unlimited at 9.19 Meg). Both providers provide products with similar pricing.

It is noteworthy to see Virgin Media in just third position bearing in mind it's recent advertising campaigns promoting fast "fibre optic" broadband and speeds up to 20 Meg. Clearly, it has a way to go to catch up with its next rival (O2 Broadband) on LLU exchanges.

Lastly, there are several large providers that did not make it into the top 5. Some examples are:-

• TalkTalk - 3.01 Meg.
• Tiscali - 2.67 Meg.
• Orange - 2.21 Meg.
• BT Total Broadband - 2.21 Meg.

Conclusions

Many large providers provide broadband "up to" 8 Meg with several claiming speeds in excess of 20 Meg. As shown from empirical data from Broadband-help.com speed tests during April 2008, most customers are nowhere near these advertised speeds. The average speed across all providers is just 3.62 Meg and is less than half the "up to 8 Meg" claims of providers.

It's obvious from the results that it pays to shop around if you want a decent connection speed. Products with similar prices vary tremendously between providers in terms of speed. We would assume that the differences are down to the quality of the providers technical infrastructure.

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