Mobile broadband running at a quarter of advertised speeds
There's clearly a different dictionary used by the telecoms industry to the rest of the population when it comes to how their services are marketed. Headlines with asterisks, bold claims with shy caveats - nothing is seemingly ever what it appears to be. And now a new and reasonably robust survey has found that mobile broadband is a bit of a sham, too.
According to www.broadband-expert.co.uk, UK mobile broadband providers are delivering average download speeds that are just 24 per cent of those advertised. The site tested over 3,300 mobile broadband connections during the six months to the end of August, and found that the average download speed was 1.1Mbps - that's compared to the average advertised maximum speed of 4.5Mbps.
Whilst Vodafone recorded the fastest actual speed with an average of 1.3Mbps, it also delivered the lowest percentage of its advertised speeds at just 18 per cent of the stated 7.2Mbps. T-Mobile was the slowest at 0.9Mbps or 20 per cent of the advertised speed. 3 achieved the highest percentage of advertised speeds at 1.2Mbps - a third of the advertised 3.6Mbps maximum speed.
Nobody will be surprised, apologists will stand up for this nonsense, mobile providers will claim the survey is deeply flawed in some way that just so happens to exonerate them, nothing whatsoever will change for the consumer. Move along folks, nothing to see here.
[Broadband Expert] thanks to HUKD member Birdyboyuk
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