UK broadband customers receive less than half of quoted connection speed, Broadband-Expert.co.uk...

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A study by UK broadband comparison site Broadband-Expert.co.uk has revealed that, on average, broadband customers receive 48% of the advertised download speed.

The study reportedly tested 41,230 broadband connections over February

The research showed differences between providers and packages, with services quoting lower maximum speeds more likely to get close to the advertised speed. The average actual speed achieved in the 16Mb+ category was 8.6Mb, and 45% of the quoted maximum speeds. Customers on 2Mb packages achieved on average 1.8Mb or 88% of the quoted maximum speed, while customers on 8Mb achieved 3.4Mb or 43%, the study revealed.

According to the results of the study, in the 2Mb category top performers were Virgin Media's cable service, Talk Talk and UK Online, which achieved more than the advertised maximum 2Mb speed, while Tiscali, Pipex and Toucan achieved 68%, 70% and 73% respectively. In the 8Mb category, O2 and Be achieved 73% and 68% of advertised speeds, compared to 26% for Toucan and 29% for Virgin Media's ADSL service and Eclipse.

The fastest actual speed achieved in the 16Mb+ category was Virgin Media's cable service with an average of 10.4Mb or 52% of the 20Mb quoted top speed. The only other ISP to deliver more than half of the advertised maximum speed was UK Online, which achieved 62% of the 16mb quoted top speed, delivering an average of 9.99Mb.

Full results of the survey can be found at http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/broadband/speedtest

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