The way broadband speed is advertised and what you should expect is often confusing – and perhaps even deliberately so.

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) delivers your broadband through your phone line, on a separate service to voice telephone calls. This is called ADSL (Asymmetric or Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line), because upload and download speeds are different. You normally need a DSL filter if using a phone line rather than a cable service.

There are a number of things which affect your Internet broadband speed:

• Subscription Package with your ISP
• Contention ratio (how many people allowed to share the service at the same time)
• Telephone line or cable connection
• Physical length of the connection to your premises from the Exchange
• Age, quality and material of the connection (copper, aluminium, fibre)

CityFibre UK Attempts to Debunk Copper Based Superfast …

The most common network technology used to connect users to the internet is good old fashioned copper wire. The use of copper wire means that Nielsen's law … Copper wires as used to deliver broadband services tend to be very long and very thin, and while these were fine for delivering low bandwidth (or low frequency) analog voice, they are less well suited to deliver high speed (or high frequency) bandwidth." None of this is new and many of our readers will …

How to boost rural broadband speeds | News | TechRadar

Rural areas are often overlooked by broadband providers, but there are ways to improve connectivity. Amazing though it sounds, 4000 homes in the UK are classed as 'not spots', meaning they have no internet access at all. … This funding is only to help 90 per cent of the people who don't have 'high speed' internet, leaving the remaining 10 per cent still off the grid. What's more, it's down to the communities themselves to alert their local MPs so they …

Average UK broadband speed passes 7Mb

Average UK broadband speeds have passed 7Mb for the first time, latest speed test results have shown.

Will broadband improvements cost too much? | All About Fiber Optics

As the UK looks to improve broadband speeds available, customers are urged to take the broadband speed test to see what speeds they are entitled to. The best way to find the best deals is to compare broadband offers …

How to test your phone broadband speed

For several years, we've found this handy little broadband test to do just what we need http://speedtest.net/

Compare the result with your ISP broadband phone package and what it includes.

How to make your Internet broadband speed faster

The first thing to do is report a slow broadband speed to your ISP – it's quite possible they can reset or even replace your cable modem or router, or reprogram the network to restore the performance you're paying for.

Related articles

• UK broadband providers warned over speed, bandwidth throttling transparency (zdnet.com)
• Ofcom: Broadband speeds 'should be clearer' (telegraph.co.uk)
• UK households have an average of 4.6 devices connected to WiFi (thenextweb.com)
• Broadband advertising proposals 'a green light to mislead customers' (telegraph.co.uk)
• Broadband speed claims face new guidelines (guardian.co.uk)
• Slow broadband problematic for business insurance holders? (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
• UK 'lags on high-speed broadband' (bbc.co.uk)

A recent Ofcom report shows the UK leading the world in its use of digital communications, yet trailing behind in 21st position out of 30 for Broadband speeds.
News – UK prime in most digital areas but not broadband

The UK is one of the world’s most advanced countries in terms of digital communications, an Ofcom report says. The telecoms regulator said people in the UK watched more TV and sent more texts than people in many other countries, …

UK broadband must try harder | Latest Industry News | News …

The state of the UK’s broadband industry has received mixed reactions in Ofcom’s latest report. The regulator’s annual International Communications Market report looks at the entire £548 billion communications market in 12 major …

Related Broadband News

• UK consumers ‘in digital elite’ (news.bbc.co.uk)

Broadband Speeds in the UK

Ofcom recently released a report which represents the most thorough examination of broadband speeds ever performed within the UK.

The data they collected was taken from over 60 million speed test results accumulated by 1600 broadband customers and it paints a relatively bleak picture of the UK broadband market as it stands today.

The findings basically revealed what many people already knew to be true, that broadband speeds vary wildly depending on a number of factors and in the most part the actual speed attainable by any one customer will be significantly lower than the speed that the broadband providers claim they will be able to attain.

As a result of these tests ofcom has demanded and indeed received a pledge from 37 of the main broadband providers to offer more clarity to customers when it comes to advertising their speeds and while in the most part this new found honesty will be a good thing, avoiding deception of the customer, it still doesn`t solve the problem of why our broadband speeds are so low.

The average speed for a UK customer is just a hair over 4Mbps, which is at odds with the common claim that ADSL broadband will run at `up to` 8Mbps. But what`s the cause of the huge discrepancy between the promised speeds and the ones we receive from day to day?

Well, the main cause of slower average speeds is because of the limitations of ADSL broadband, which is the most common type in the UK as it uses existing BT copper landlines.

Because of the nature of copper wire, over long distances the broadband signal deteriorates and so the speed slows. This means people who live in rural areas who are far away from their local telephone exchange experience comparatively slow speeds compared to urban dwellers.

However, in urban areas there`s another problem which affects broadband speeds: congestion. Because during the peak evening periods of the day so many people are trying to use their broadband connection, customers can expect to see their speeds reduced by around 25% compared to their average speed during other times of the day.

This is all down to the number of other people who are using broadband via your local telephone exchange and it seems like this is always going to be a problem, like rush hour.

So what`s going to be the solution to our slow broadband blues here in the UK?

Well, the Ofcom report ultimately revealed that though ADSL customers are receiving the short straw in terms of speed, Cable broadband customers have much higher speeds which more closely reflect the speed that their service is advertised at.

If you already live in a cabled area you`ll be able to access the more consistent broadband on offer today.

If you`re still stuck with ADSL, don`t worry as BT are upgrading their exchanges nationwide in order to offer 20Mbps services.

For now using a broadband speed test will help you choose a new provider.

Back to Broadband Telecom home

Your computer could be attacked the moment you connect it to Broadband

Make sure you have a Firewall

• Remember – the Internet is a Public Place
• All PC's have open "ports" by default
• Malicious programs lurk online looking for these
• Make sure that you have a firewall installed and activated
• Windows XP machines and more recent have a built-in firewall which is adequate
• If in doubt, go to Control Panel on your PC and check the security settings
• To strengthen your firewall, download the FREE ZoneAlarm software here

Virus protection with Broadband

• Even with a firewall, viruses can still be a threat
• New viruses appear all the time and this problem is never going to go away
• Not only can they damage your computer, they can steal personal information and cause "Identity Theft" ("phishing")
• Viruses usually sneak into your computer when you open an infected email or surf a malicious website
• Make sure you *never* open an email or run an executable program unless you trust the source
• Make sure you have anti-virus protection, and that you update it frequently (daily is best) and regularly scan your PC for viruses
• You don't need to buy anti-virus software, there's an excellent FREE program at the AVG website

Other dangers to your computer include:

• Spyware
• Malware
• We recommend Spybot Search and Destroy, and Ad-Aware to protect against these, and they are both FREE

CAUTION! You will find many offers on the Internet to scan your coputer for free. Frequently these "free" resources are malicious sites which actually install harmful software on your PC. Only use them if you can trust them (perhaps from a personal referal).

More information will be available at a new website coming soon from our IT and Telecoms Manager.

You can contact us directly for more advice on any of these issues.

What is VoIP?

• Also known IP Telephony, Voice over IP, Internet Telephony
• VoIP has actually been around for the last ten years or so but is now becoming increasingly mainstream
• VoIP converts analogue human speech into digital form
• It is based on computer networks using the Internet Protocol to transmit packets of data
• Computer networks don’t mind if these packets sometimes take longer to deliver than usual, however
• VoIP depends crucially on the speed and Quality of Service (QoS) of a Broadband Internet connection between callers
• High QoS is required to ensure that all packets of data arrive within a fixed time, as humans talk in real-time and cannot tolerate lost or delayed pieces of a phone call
• Phone calls can become free of charge or very low cost

What do you need for VoIP?

• A Landline
• A Broadband service
• A VoIP telephone, or
• Your PC and an appropriate handset or headset

Why Do You Need Broadband?

• Modern PC’s need frequent updates which are large files and require a fast connection to reduce download times and ensure success
• Without these regular updates for Windows, Anti-Virus protection, and SpyWare alerts your PC can quickly become riddled with dangerous software, causing slower performance, unreliabilty and the risk of Identity Theft
• Surfing the Internet becomes much easier and faster
• You can get free telephone calls and video conferences to other broadband users with VOIP (Voice over IP)

What is Broadband?

• Also known as ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line)
• An “always-on” connection to the Internet (rather than the much slower dial-up service which incurs a delay in connecting and may cost a phone call)
• You can make and receive phone calls at the same time
• Broadband is a high-speed connection, with a choice of speeds at different fixed monthly costs rather than pay-as-you-go
• Broadband coverage and speed rates are increasing all the time, with costs reducing, although not every home or office can yet be connected
• You should generally get the fastest broadband speed available within your monthly budget
• Some broadband packages have built-in limitations to your monthly total downloads after which additional charges apply, so watch for these in the T’s & C’s if you expect to be downloading copious amounts of files like mp3 music or video

More About Broadband

• Just a low monthly fixed cost
• It’s Fast and Easy to Surf the Internet and download files, pictures, music and video
• It’s Essential to Keep your Computer regularly updated with Windows, Anti-virus and Spyware Protection
• You can also consider wired or wireless networks at very low cost

What do you need for Broadband?

• Simple to Set Up
• No Need for new lines
• No Need for new phones
• No Change to your existing numbers
• Your provider should supply a Broadband Modem which connects to the phone line along with a micro-filter
• Can be in place within 2 weeks

More information will be available at a new website coming soon from our IT and Telecoms Manager.

You can contact us directly for more advice on any of these issues.