ISPs 'deliver half of quoted download speeds': claim

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 25 February 2010 15:05

Your IT - Home IT

A broadband comparison site has claimed that ISPs are on average delivering less than half the claimed nominal download speed.

There are any number of web sites around that purport to compare various offerings in market segments where there's a lot of choice, such as gas and electricity, health insurance, and credit cards. Such sites are often funded by taking a commission on referrals to providers.

Broadband Expert is a site that compares broadband plans available to Australian consumers. One of its features is a speed test that - like many others - attempts to measure the actual upload and download speeds achieved at a given time.

Aggregated figures from over 11,000 tests carried out during the second half of 2009 show that on average, the measured speed was just under half the nominal maximum speed quoted by the providers.

Of the nine ISPs listed, Optus fared best with download speeds reaching 69% of that expected. Telstra's Big Pond was slightly below average at 44%, and Dodo took last spot with 38% (all figures rounded to the closest whole number).

"There needs to be more transparency so consumers can see which ISPs are most likely to reliably deliver good speeds," said Rob Webber, commercial director at Broadband Expert.

Can these figures be trusted? See page 2.