Average UK Broadband Speed Continues To Rise
The Government has committed funding to improve broadband in rural areas. This is to ensure that 95% of UK premises have access to superfast broadband by 20178 and that a minimum service of 2Mbit/s is available to all.9
Claudio Pollack, Ofcoms Consumer Group Director, said: With the average household now owning more than three types of internet-connected devices, consumers are demanding more than ever from their broadband service.
Internet providers have responded by upgrading customers to higher speed services and launching new superfast packages. To help consumers make informed purchasing decisions, our report offers a useful insight into the actual speeds and level of reliability delivered by many of the broadband packages available on the market today.
We are yet to see the full effect of Government measures to improve broadband availability in rural areas, which should also help to boost speeds. We also anticipate 4G mobile to have a positive effect on mobile broadband availability across the UK.
Ofcom broadband speeds research
This is Ofcoms ninth report into fixed-line residential broadband speeds using data collected by research partner SamKnows.
The report provides data on the average performance of fixed-line residential broadband in the UK and of the individual ISP packages included in the research. In total, these packages accounted for more than half of UK residential broadband connections in May 2013.
The results help consumers to understand the significant variations in the performance of ISP packages and, when considered alongside other factors such as price, to make more informed purchasing decisions.10
All of the UKs largest ISPs are signatories to Ofcoms Voluntary Code of Practice on broadband speeds. Ofcom recently conducted mystery shopping to check ISPs compliance with the code.
Ofcom will also shortly be publishing research into whether ISPs need to improve the information they provide on traffic management policies.