In a six month study by broadband comparison site Broadband Expert it was found that the average download speed in Australia was less than half of the speed advertised.
In a study of 11,000 broadband users that covered nine companies, the site compared the actual speed obtained by users and compared it to what their ISP had advertised.
Top marks in the study went to Optus who came out with both the fastest average download speed and the lowest difference between real and advertised speeds. This is likely because a large number of Optus broadband customers are still using the Optus Cable broadband network, which does not suffer the same speed degradation over distance as ADSL services over telephone lines do.
AAPT fared the worst in average download speeds by customers, which makes the companies recently announced ‘unlimited’ broadband plans hard to justify if their network cannot handle the existing demand by customers.
Internet service provider Dodo, recorded the highest difference between the actual speeds achieved by its users and those speeds advertised as possible by the company for users of its service.
This highlights the need for greater transparency in advertised broadband speeds, with Broadband Expert commercial director Rob Weber suggesting “ISPs should quote the average speed achievable in the customer’s area so they can make a more informed choice.”
This is obviously a difficult path to take for ISP’s as speeds attained by individual users can vary due to a number of factors. Provided that this is made explicitly clear by ISP’s, advertising the maximum possible speed is not violating any laws.
In general, the strongest determinate of broadband speed is the distance from your property from the exchange, the website adsl2exchanges is a valuable resource for checking reported speeds of users of ADSL broadband in your area.
