Broadband Bashing

ISP's (Internet Service Providers) are in trouble again after the release of Ofcom's latest report. There has been extended debate about the legalities and honesty of ISP's 'up to' speed clause in their bandwidth package, because the majority of customers do not and cannot attain the speeds suggested by them.

The Ofcom report focused on the 8Mb service provided by ISP's across the country. Their findings revealed that only 9% of users who subscribe to an 8mb service could attain above 6Mb and that the majority of users could get less than half the quoted amount. The ISP's argue that customers within a close proximity to the telephone exchange attain close to the quoted bandwidth speeds and because of distance and drain on the service by other users, customers who are further out get a slower service. Ofcom also revealed that the majority of 8mb connections could not even support 8Mb, and actually only had the capacity for 7.1Mb.

While the rest of the country has to abide by advertising laws and provide the customer exactly what they offer, ISP's have the ability to suggest that you will receive a service that they cannot provide. The two words 'up to' are an unfair loophole for consumers considering that the majority of customers are not getting the advertised amount. The issue that Ofcom is attempting to solve is to allow the public to get broadband connections that are consistent and that can be regulated. If companies are willing to install the infrastructure to support fast internet speeds such as ADSL MAX or fibre, then they should be allowed to advertise its availability - but not before the service is available.

So what does this report hope to achieve? The government wants the ISP's to be honest about the service they provide so that they can reach their target of the whole country having a minimum of 2Mb internet speeds. If the report has the desired effect, ISPs will have to improve their infrastructure and improve their service, which allows the public to receive what they pay for and not a substandard service.

The result of increasing internet speeds across the country will be a larger demand for Data Centre space, as people access websites, store information and extend their dependency on online services. The competition will increase speeds and drive down prices which will make Data Centre space more affordable and desirable. Migration Solutions are data centre specialists who focus on the operation, migration and design of new and existing data centres. They are vendor independent which allows the best products to be selected for their clients. To find out about what Migration Solutions can do for you visit the website www.migrationsolutions.com