A crackdown on misleading broadband adverts will ensure at least 50pc of customers can receive advertised speeds, drastically reducing providers' fast internet claims.

It comes after Ministers, consumer bodies and members of the public complained that current rules, which let firms advertise speeds received by the top 10pc of customers, were misleading.

The move is also a victory for this newspaper's Better Broadband campaign which has repeatedly highlighted that consumers are suffering as a result of lower than advertised speeds in their homes.

The new rules are set to force firms to reduce advertised speeds by as much as 25pc.

In one examle provided by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, Plusnet's "up to" 76Mbit/s fibre broadband package is around 25pc slower for the average customer, who received a speed of 56.4 Mbit/s.

Which? has warned current rules allow brands to advertise attractive high speeds which are misleading an estimated 84pc of consumers who are not aware of it.