This week saw the ASA get tough on online ads, with misleading broadband claims coming first its its croasshairs. This right to reply article from Ovum analyst Matthew Howett looks at how the industry can become more transparent…
Overall in the telecoms industry; marketing standards are poor. Transparency will become a lot more important, particularly as ISPs look to manage their networks to deal with the increasing volume of traffic and the ongoing net neutrality debate.
Interestingly the focus is on fixed line broadband, but increasingly people are using the internet on their smartphones too.
Mobile broadband is even more susceptible to traffic congestion which will affect the speed you get and is advertised by operators.
Whether it’s ‘up to’ speeds or a ‘typical speed range’, no system is going to perfect. Quite often many of the factors that affect speed are outside the control of ISPs.
Distance from the exchange building, in-house wiring and the number of other people using the network will all contribute to the actual speed that is received.
The only long term solution to this problem will be an upgrading of the physical infrastructure – i.e. replacing the old copper with new fibre lines and this is where being more honest with broadband speeds could be to the advantage of ISPs.
If consumers see that with a super-fast broadband package over a fibre line will offer a speed much closer to what is theoretically achievable it could help with the migration of consumers to these next-generation networks.
By Matthew Howett
Ovum analyst
www.datamonitor.com