ISPs should live up to their word on broadband speeds, says Which?

Consumer group Which? has come up with a novel idea: How's about making ISPs (or internet service providers, if you're not into the whole brevity thing) guarantee the broadband speeds they advertise?

The customer advocate has said the UK's broadband purveyors should no longer be able to get away with falling short of speeds they promise customers when they sign up for their home internet package.

The demand comes after a survey carried on on behalf of Which? claimed 45 per cent had dealt with slower than advertised download speeds, with half of those struggling frequently or all of the time.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "The internet is an essential part of modern life, yet millions of us are getting frustratingly slow speeds and having to wait days to get reconnected when things go wrong.

"It's less superfast broadband, more super-slow service from companies who are expecting people to pay for speeds they may never get."

Voluntary schomoluntary

UK communications regulator Ofcom has a voluntary scheme in place, which encourages ISPs to state the average speeds a customer can expect to receive when they sign the contract.

If the provider consistently falls below those expectations then, the consumer will be able to walk away from the deal without early termination fees.

That's not enough for Which?. It is seeking a guarantee from providers that users can receive certain speeds at their home address.

Elsewhere in the survey of 2,000 Brits, 1 in 10 respondents said they'd waited more than a week to get reconnected following an outage, while 25 per cent had called three times or more in relation to a single problem.

Via BBC