The rules by the Advertising Standards Authority came into effect April 1st.

72 per cent of consumers do not support the new rules on broadband advertising introduced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with effect from April 1st, new research finds. The rules require broadband providers only to advertise speeds which at least 10 per cent of users on the package can receive.

When asked to suggest the most appropriate speed to advertise 34 per cent, of the over 1,000 consumers surveyed by thinkbroadband, suggested that the advertised speeds should be achievable by half of the users on the respective service (as opposed to just the top ten per cent). 43 per cent wanted a table with a breakdown of speeds so they could draw their own conclusions. Only 3 per cent supported the new rules as they stand.

Difficulties in advertising speed

It can be difficult to advertise speeds for broadband packages, especially ADSL-based services as these can depend on various factors such as the quality of your telephone line, which cannot always be predicted until a service is installed.

Sebastien Lahtinen, co-founder of thinkbroadband: "Broadband networks are a bit like the road networks. At peak times, users will find their service will often slow down in the same way as rush-hour traffic causes congestion on the road network. Of course, it’s important that providers are honest about the realistic speeds that their services can offer, but consumers should always be cautious of relying solely on advertised broadband speeds as they can be affected by so many factors.

"What has been rather worrying is that following the introduction of the new rules, some providers have withdrawn all speed information from their packages. This is unlikely to be helpful to consumers who are trying to make a choice between different broadband technologies."