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 …

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• 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

Rolling contracts allow BT to automatically renew your contract with them for a further 12 months *without* your explicit consent.

Their normal contract, however, allows you to leave when the 12 months is up.

Which one did you sign up to?

Because If you miss the annual reminder and try to leave BT for a cheaper alternative phone call supplier, you are stuck unless you pay for the privilege to leave!

This is damaging to competition in the deregulated telecoms industry, and so far, OFCOM as the regulator has failed to take firm action.

BT is clever to encourage you into these deals with incentives like free evening calls – but don’t be fooled into thinking this is good value.

Recent research shows that the average cost of Broadband has fallen by almost 40% over the past three years, and by switching suppliers regularly (which rolling contracts are designed to prevent) can result in large savings.

Switching Broadband supplier can also get you a faster service, since the average Broadband speed has increased by 700 percent in the past three years.

Deregulation of the telecoms industry has worked well until now, by delivering greater choice and falling prices.

But rolling contracts threaten this and should be urgently addressed by OFCOM.

It used to be that BT owned a monopoly on landlines, since they built up the infrastructure to supply them. A landline is the final connection from the BT Exchange to your premises, also known as the Local Loop.

On 1st August 2006 Ofcom allowed other telecom companies to supply landline services. This is also called Local Loop Unbundling, or LLU.

Other providers can now rent the LLU from BT and supply it to the customer themselves, usually at cheaper rates and sometimes as part of an overall package which can provide calls (minutes) and Broadband.

To leave BT as your land line supplier, all you need do is contact an alternative provider and they will manage the transfer for you.

Usually this results in lower costs and payment monthly in arrears, rather than payment quarterly in advance with BT, which is better for your cashflow.

Unlike some call plans with alternative telecom suppliers, a land line rental usually comes with a minimum contract.

If you do transfer your land line rental away from BT, they still own the responsibility for repairs, so all you do is alert your new provider to any problems, and again they will handle the management of BT to resolve the problem.

Cheap phone calls for home and business have been possible for many years (originally called Least-Cost Routing, or LCR), and recent OFCOM legislation has made the process even easier than ever.

LCR needed the manual re-programming of your company telephone switchboard, which was sometimes a chargeable task and not without unexpected hitches.

There were also small plug-in dialler boxes which were unreliable, got unplugged or had power inadvertently turned off.

Both methods “routed” your phone call off the main BT network, onto another carrier of your choice and usually at substantially cheaper rates. However, if anything went wrong, your phone calls could “leak” back onto the BT network incurring the higher BT cost and defeating the object.

To ensure freedom of choice between carriers, and break BT’s monopoly on phone calls, a successor service to LCR was introduced (which is actually a BT service) called “Carrier Pre-Select” or CPS.

CPS is applied at the local BT Exchange carrying your outbound phone calls, and causes the call to route automatically over your chosen carrier’s telephone network transparently, and frequently at substantial savings over BT rates.

Furthermore, the service is guaranteed by BT so that any “leaked” calls on their network as a result of any problems incur compensation from them.

All telephone network carriers now offer this service, some of them with on-line convenience and many useful on-line management capabilities, and it can be in place within 2 weeks of your request. You can even register all your homeworker’s telephone numbers onto the service, for single-bill convenience and workgroup savings.

On 1st August 2006, Ofcom, the UK Telecoms Regulator, ended the formal controls on the cost of phone line rentals and calls from BT.

This leaves all phone companies (including BT themselves) free to set their own retail prices for consumers.

So now you, not the regulator, are free to decide whether you think a phone company is good value or not, and can choose the right deal for you. Then keep checking it's delivering what you want, at the right price!