U.K. consumers received average broadband speeds of 9 Mbps in...
U.K. consumers received average broadband speeds of 9 Mbps in May, two and a half times faster than the average speeds recorded in November 2008, the Office of Communications said Wednesday. Ofcom’s research into fixed-line broadband speeds included several new…
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“superfast” packages, such as Virgin Media’s “up to” 60 Mbps and BT’s Infinity “up to” 76 Mbps services, it said. The trend of increasing speeds confirms that consumer migration to faster services is gathering momentum, it said. And although some users actively choose superfast packages, many benefit from better speeds resulting from ISP network upgrades, at little or no additional cost to them, it said. In May, 8 percent of residential broadband connections were superfast, compared to 5 percent six months earlier, it said. Cable broadband connections generated the greatest speed increases in the six months before May, up 3.6 Mbps to 17.9 Mbps, it said. During the same period, average speeds over ADSL rose from 5.3 Mbps to 5.9 Mbps, it said. But average actual speeds recorded for fiber-to-the-street cabinet fell 12 percent, it said. Of the 12 U.K. ISP packages covered by the report, Virgin Media’s “up to” 100 Mbps was the fastest, with average speeds of 88.3 Mbps over a 24-hour period, it said. The average download rate on BT’s Infinity “up to” 76 Mbps service was 58.5 Mbps, and on Virgin Media’s “up to” 60 Mbps, 55.9 Mbps, it said. The report surveyed upload speeds as well, finding that BT’s Infinity service delivered the highest, Ofcom said. The regulator also said many ISPs have changed the way they advertise their broadband services since guidance on the use of speed claims came into force in April.