One of the best ways to do this is to do a broadband speed check on your connection. This is totally simple to do and plenty of websites offer the facility. Some are easier to use than others and the official BT one while accurate if long winded. You can quite easily use a different site, even if your BT is your service provider, and get accurate results.

The first thing you need to do is to search for the speed checker. They will usually just open in a browser window, you don't need to download anything. Once you have selected a reliable one you need to shut down any other applications as these will affect your internet speed. What you basically want is a clean test of your line to see what the speed is without any interference, so the only thing open should be the browser with the speed checker. Once you have entered in the required details (usually your phone number, your provider, the speed you think you should be getting and how much you are paying for your package) it will test your speed there and then to see whether what you are paying for is what you are receiving.

When you are selecting the right speed checker you should make sure that you choose one that will show you both what you CAN receive in your area as well as what you are receiving. It is really important to know that just because you are paying for a 24 Mb connection does not mean that your line is actually able to handle those speeds. Also make sure to repeat the test a few times as other things can affect your speed such as how many users in your area are using the net at that time. A good idea in general is to check it at a peak time like 6pm-9pm as well as an off peak one.

With all this information in mind, it is worth making sure that you are getting what you are paying for with your broadband connection and you can only do this by checking the speeds you are getting in reality, not just on paper.

Broadband Wise Is The Premier Resource for choosing Which Broadband. is right for you. With in depth comparisons of Cable Broadband in your area.

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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