Britain's broadband 'is too slow and expensive'

Britain's broadband 'is too slow and expensive'

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:24am BST 30/06/2007

British consumers are paying up to 17 times more for their broadband compared to some of their European neighbours, providing further evidence that the UK has become one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

The study also suggests that households, especially in rural areas, are being routinely misled by their broadband providers about how good a service they receive.

On average we are paying £5.60 a month for each megabit per second (Mbps) of broadband speed. The number of megabits per second is an indication of how quickly data can be downloaded from the internet.

The costs in this country are 17 times higher than in Sweden and seven times higher than in France. In all, 11 continental countries offer cheaper prices than are available in the UK, according to MoneySupermarket, the price comparison website, which compiled the research.

Many countries that are more expensive, however, offer a far better quality of service. Polish households, which pay £6.60 a month per Mbps, receive on average 7.5Mbps - three times faster broadband than in the UK.

British houses only receive on average 2.6Mbps and, on this measurement, we rank 16th out of 23 countries.

Jason Lloyd, head of broadband at MoneySupermarket, said customers had every right to feel annoyed, but cautioned against blaming broadband companies. "It's not the fault of the providers. We are using an antiquated system in the UK," he said.

While many European companies, especially those in Scandinavia, have invested heavily in installing fibre optic wires underground, the UK system is reliant on decades-old copper wires.

This means that many households, especially those in remote areas far away from a telephone exchange, are not receiving the broadband speeds for which they signed up.

Companies often promise super-fast, 16Mbps broadband, which should allow people to download feature films in a matter of minutes, but they are providing only half that speed or worse.

Some 16 per cent of Sky customers are subscribers to its "up to 16Mbps" package. However, only six per cent of these customers actually get the 16Mbps speed. The vast majority, some 78 per cent, get half this speed or less.

Rivals such as TalkTalk, Orange and BT offer an 8Mbps package yet less than half of their customers get this speed. Mr Lloyd said: "Customers feel misled. The maximum speed advertised is so different from what they are actually getting. The problem is that 55 per cent of people don't read the small print."

Britain routinely comes out in surveys as one of the most expensive countries in the world, especially when it comes to technology. According to Which?, the consumer group, a PlayStation 3 games console cost £425 when it launched in the UK - more than in any other Western country.