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The fastest broadband providers

John Fitzsimons
by Lovemoney Staff John Fitzsimons on 15 August 2012  |  Comments 9 comments

A new Ofcom report has revealed which broadband providers offer the fastest speeds.

The fastest broadband providers

Average UK broadband speeds have increased to 9.0 Megabits per second (Mbps), up nearly 20% on November 2011, the latest research from Ofcom has revealed.

The study, conducted in May, included some of the new ‘superfast’ broadband deals now on offer from Virgin Media and BT.

Superfast packages now account for 8% of residential broadband connections, up from 5% in November and 2% a year ago.

Ofcom reckons that the increasing average speeds are a sign that more of us are willing to move suppliers to ensure that we get the fastest possible deal. It pointed out that while 48% of users were on packages with advertised speeds of up to 10Mbps in May last year, that figure has rocketed to 68% this year.

That’s not just a result of us all switching over to superfast deals though, as Ofcom highlights plenty of users have seen their broadband speeds improve as a result of network upgrades “at little or no cost to consumers”.

The fastest broadband suppliers

Ofcom studied 12 difference broadband packages in the report – seven normal broadband deals and five superfast packages. Below are the average download speeds for the non-superfast services.

Supplier

Maximum download speeds

Average download speeds over 24 hours

Average download speeds 8-10pm weekdays

BT ADSL2+

8.6Mbps to 10.7Mbps

8.1Mbps to 10.0Mbps

8.1Mbps to 10.0Mbps

Karoo ADSL2+

8.6Mbps to 10.6Mbps

7.8Mbps to 9.9Mbps

7.7Mbps to 9.8Mbps

O2/BE ADSL2+

9.7Mbps to 11.6Mbps

9.1Mbps to 10.9Mbps

8.9Mbps to 10.7Mbps

Orange ADSL2+

7.7Mbps to 10.1Mbps

6.7Mbps to 8.9Mbps

6.6Mbps to 8.8Mbps

Plusnet ADSL2+

8.5Mbps to 11.2Mbps

7.8Mbps to 10.3Mbps

7.7Mbps to 10.1Mbps

Sky ADSL2+

7.6Mbps to 9.1Mbps

7.0Mbps to 8.5Mbps

7.0Mbps to 8.5Mbps

TalkTalk ADSL2+

8.5Mbps to 10.4Mbps

7.7Mbps to 9.5Mbps

7.7Mbps to 9.4Mbps

As an O2 broadband user, I have to say I’m pretty pleased with those results, with O2 delivering the highest speeds during peak hours. However, there was still a bigger drop-off in speeds between 8pm and 10pm than from others, such as BT and Sky.

At the other end of the scale, Orange customers experienced some significant drops during peak hours.

And here’s how the superfast packages performed.

Supplier

Maximum download speeds

Average download speeds over 24 hours

Average download speeds 8-10pm weekdays

Virgin Media upto 30Mbit/s

32.7Mbps to 33.4Mbps

29.7Mbps to 30.5Mbps

28.8Mbps to 30.0Mbps

BT upto 38Mbit/s

34.0Mbps to 37.0Mbps

30.0Mbps to 34.3Mbps

29.8Mbps to 34.3Mbps

Virgin Media upto 60Mbit/s

63.2Mbps to 65.5Mbps

54.7Mbps to 57.0Mbps

52.3Mbps to 55.2Mbps

BT upto 76Mbit/s

63.1Mbps to 68.8Mbps

55.3Mbps to 61.7Mbps

54.7Mbps to 61.1Mbps

Virgin Media upto 100Mbit/s

101.0Mbps to 103.2Mbps

85/7Mbps to 90.9Mbps

80.1Mbps to 86.6Mbps

So the Virgin Media package promising speeds of upto 100Mbps is in fact the fastest around, despite some pretty significant drop-offs from its maximum.

In fact, when it comes to superfast broadband, Virgin Media customers are likely to see more significant drop-offs from the maximum speeds than BT customers across the board.

Are you getting what you pay for?

The big issue for many broadband users is how the speed they receive compares to the speed that they thought they were signing up for in the first place.

New guidance was brought in earlier this year requiring advertised speeds to be achievable by at least 10% of the relevant customer base.

Ofcom says this has already had an effect, with many providers with ADSL2+ services dropping the advertised rates from ‘upto 24Mbps’ (which is the theoretical maximum speed, but rarely achieved) to a more realistic ‘upto 16Mbps’.

How does your broadband perform against its advertised speeds? Is there a noticeable drop off in speeds at peak times? Is speed the main factor when choosing a broadband package? Let us know your thoughts in the comment bow below.

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Comments (9)

  • jgs43
    Love rating 2
    jgs43 said

    These speeds appear to reflect what is available in major centres such as cities and main regional towns. If you live out in the hickies as I do the speeds available are pathetic in relative terms. I rather think that I will be far gone before broadband speeds such as mentioned are available where live.

    Report on 17 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • cdsmith
    Love rating 1
    cdsmith said

    Some sort of indication of the size and locations of Ofcom's sample would help, because it is quite clear that the sample is not a representative one.. Out here in rural Herefordshire the lowest figure mentioned in your report (6.7mb) is unimaginable. I would happily settle for half of that, never having reached 3mb, never ever.

    Report on 17 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • oldsage
    Love rating 0
    oldsage said

    BT is mis-selling its Infinity service. It claims that a certain number of exchanges have now been converted, but this does not necessarily include all cabinets - the street level boxes that determine whether or not local users can get the service. I live less than 200 meters from my local exchange (Broomhill, Sheffield) but the cabinet at the end of the street has not been converted and is unlikely to be converted. This is because mine is the only private property in the street - the other buildings are commercial and served by fibre, which I cannot have because I am not a commercial concern. Ofcom is not interested in this mis-selling and, apparently, the Comms. ombudsman also can take no action. Someone in my position, therefore, has not means of appeal against BT's decision not to upgrade all cabinets served by a 'converted' exchange.

    Report on 17 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • joannakd
    Love rating 9
    joannakd said

    I am on BT Infinity and I am supposed to be getting 58Mbps however, it drops to about 3Mbps and sometimes it shoots up to 100Mbps - although it usually sits around the 10Mbps point. The load balancing is going crazy.

    Report on 17 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Skintsod
    Love rating 32
    Skintsod said

    Here we go again with another piece of absolute nonsense from OFCOM (Office For Conning Ordinary Mortals). I live on the edge of the second largest town in the county, i.e. in a suburban area. My advertised speed is 20mbs. I have never seen greater than 1.6mbs.

    Report on 17 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • killick_becki
    Love rating 58
    killick_becki said

    I also live in a suburban area and we get about 11Mb on average. The parents-in-law are in a rural village and they barely get 1Mb.

    Speed really does depend on where you live. Crazy thing is that they also have to pay more for their broadband as their exchange hasn't been unbundled by anyone. So they end up paying more for their 1Mb broadband than I do for my 11Mb! That is what is criminal.

    Report on 17 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • elcadobes
    Love rating 9
    elcadobes said

    I use Orange and even have trouble listening to iPlayer for my favourite radio programmes. It seems to vary in speed particularly round lunch time. It is a real pain.

    Report on 21 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • PoohBah
    Love rating 18
    PoohBah said

    I like the bit about “at little or no cost to consumers”. Soon after TalkTalk took over from Tiscali, they increased the monthly fee by more than 20%. Justification for the increase included bringing us in line with their existing customers (b*llsh*t); providing free weekend and evening calls (I already got those from Tiscali); and upgrading the exchange equipment to provide a faster service (Tiscali had already done that a year before TalkTalk took over, at no extra charge).

    Report on 21 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • oldsage
    Love rating 0
    oldsage said

    What all of this ignores is that a) if BT does not upgrade your cabinet, you'll not get fast broadband from anyone - even if they advertise the exchange as upgraded; b) if fibre goes along your street and serves commercial customers only, you won't be able to get a domestic service. Both of these things are ways of ensuring that even someone living in a major city will NOT be able to get fast broadband, regardless of what the marketing divisions tell you.

    Report on 23 August 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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