Ofcom Broadband Speed Report & BT Reply
On July 28th, Ofcom slammed BT and other broadband providers for delivering only around 50% of its nominal advertised 8meg speed.
On July 29th, BT responded with this statement.
As the Editor of Broadband-help.com, I have some problems with aspects of the BT statement.
Firstly, I believe that the statement has been issued to deflect the heat from BT and cause confusion in the industry.
It talks about “massively faster speeds, even at peak times”. The BT press release then criticises Ofcom’s methodology in creating its report and quotes results from “Epitro” (who allegedly carry out “independent” comparative tests on broadband networks [ yeah, right:)]).
In our (Broadband-help.com) tests (run by actual customers of the big UK broadband providers), we find BT consistently under performs its peers for speed. This is at total odds to the Epitro report that sings BT praises. Obviously, one of us is massaging the figures! Take it as given that it’s not Broadband-help.com! (We would have very little to gain in doing so). You can see the ongoing weekly speed test results here.
Interestingly, BT then go on to say:
“Ironically, BT is shown to perform well in the eyes of customers in the aspects of the report that do not depend upon line length such as customer service, technical help and overall satisfaction.”
Read our customer reviews of BT broadband and make your own minds up on this one.
I find it amazing, but perhaps not unsurprising, that major broadband providers just simply don’t understand that their customers are not stupid and can’t be fobbed off with platitudes. The issues around actual broadband speeds compared to advertised speeds has been going on for years. Rather than beating the same old rhetoric on “distance from exchange”, maybe it’s time to just get on with investing and improving the high speed broadband networks.
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BT are indeed talking nonsense. Ofcom’s figures were adjusted for distance from the exchange and although there is a difference between that and line length then the situation is the same for all ISPs so BT aren’t treated worse than anyone else. Most revealingly of all, Ofcom’s figures showed that BT’s speeds fell dramatically in the evenings. Now that could be because BT customers were moving further from the exchange during the evenings and then moving back in the morning. But I think the real explanation is that BT has rubbish backhaul.
BT: Poor speeds, terrible customer service and inflated prices. You know it makes no sense.
MY INTERNET WAS ONLY REACHING LESS THAN HALF A MEG ,DUE TO PROBLEM WITH BT LINE,BUT THIS HAS NOW BEEN RESOLVED AFTER LOTS LOTS CALLS TO BT AND SKY.OUR SPEED IS NOW UP TO 4 MEG