broadband speeds in uk

Virgin Media broadband more than twice as fast
Virgin Media broadband more than twice as fast as any ADSL provider. Many households getting less than half of advertised speeds, says Ofcom

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It's official! Virgin Media broadband speeds are more than twice as fast as any ADSL provider, according to Ofcom's latest broadband speeds research.

While broadband speeds overall are getting faster, the independent regulator's report found that the gap has widened between actual download speeds and their advertised rates. As a result, many UK consumers are receiving less than half of their advertised speed.

The disparity is even greater for the three-quarters of the UK receiving DSL broadband services, where data is sent through copper cables originally designed for telephone calls. Ofcom found advertised DSL speeds of 20-24Mbit/second provided an average speed of just 6.5Mbit/second.

But, no such worries for Virgin Media broadband customers who receive their broadband via a sophisticated network of fibre optic cables.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media said: "Ofcom's broadband speeds report again proves Virgin Media is consistently more than twice as fast as any of our DSL competitors.

"Because we use a next generation fibre optic cable network, our customers can be confident of receiving 90 per cent of the headline speed they buy from us. And we're continuing to invest in our network so we can deliver more of what our customers are paying for - whether on 10Mb, 20Mb, 50Mb or our soon to launch 100Mb broadband service.

"Whilst Ofcom's report is good news for our customers, it's clear that our DSL competitors just aren't keeping up with their promises of 20Mb broadband. No DSL customer receives 18Mb, only 2 per cent are receiving more than 14Mb and, on average, DSL providers are delivering just 33 per cent of their advertised 'up to 20Mb' speed.

"We need to ensure people are not being ripped off and the lack of transparency in broadband advertising risks damaging consumer confidence in superfast broadband. The Advertising Standards Authority has announced a review into the way broadband is advertised and the need for change is now urgent."