The regulator has told companies they must be clearer to their customers about how they restrict traffic. According to ZDNet if the ISPs don’t improve they will be forced to by Ofcom, and again they have stressed that customers should be told what average speed they will get when they sign up in the first place.

Ofcom have said that generally traffic management is beneficial when used, and can protect more important traffic to the likes of the emergency services. It is not always the case though if it is used to hit competing services, especially if it “is not visible to consumers”.

Mobile and fixed broadband providers can have traffic management rules in place, but unfortunately not all customers are made aware of them. It is often used to help congestion during peak times for instance when video services are prioritized over mail services during these busy times.

They did agree though that some ISPs do provide some information, as back in March the likes of BT, O2, Three, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Sky, and TalkTalk have agreed to a voluntary code of practice to be more clearer on their polices.

But Ofcom have said that the information “does not go far enough and needs to be made clearer and easier to understand“. The table of traffic management information, Key Facts Indicator, is only understandable to the more “technically savvy” consumers.

To be easier to understand Ofcom suggests the companies should tell customers how any traffic management policies will affect them such as download speeds for P2P services during busy times. Does your connection often fall fail of throttling?

According to an article on PC Advisor the country is currently sitting 25th in the world regarding the fastest average broadband speeds. Akamai has released its State of the Internet report for the second quarter of 2011. It checked speeds for over 604 million unique IP address from 238 countries and regions.

South Korea had the fastest average speed connection in the world at 13.8Mbps, with Hong Kong on 10.3Mbps and Japan on 8.9Mbps behind it. While in the UK average speeds sit at just 5Mbps, which was 28 percent higher than last year’s report. The country only managed to finish at 15 out of 22 in Europe, with The Netherlands finishing top of the Euro zone with 8.5Mbps.

Globally the average broadband speed has improved by 21 percent to 2.6Mbps, with more than 80 percent of regions seeing an increase by 10 percent or more. The UK only saw a nine percent increase over the last quarter.

Meanwhile 27 percent of all connections checked were found to have 5Mbps or above, with The Netherlands having 68 percent of all its connections having what are called Higher Broadband. Again the UK didn’t do so well with only 30 percent of its population having access to the 5Mbps or above service.

Are you happy with your broadband speed?

According to recent research by Ofcom many UK residents are being tempted with superfast broadband speeds, but are only getting half the speeds as advertised. Consumers in the UK are getting a ten percent increase in average speeds though according to an article on guardian.co.uk. In the six months to May average speeds went up from 6.2Mbps to 6.8Mbps.

The biggest difference in advertised speeds to those actually achieved was in homes using copper based DSL phone lines, which are found in 75 percent of homes in the UK. Services that advertised as up to 20Mbps and 24Mbps speeds actually only achieved an average of 6.6Mbps, with over a third getting 4Mbps or less.

Ofcom has been campaigning for a change in the way ISPs advertise their “up to” broadband speeds, which in the majority of cases are not achieved. Some of the biggest internet suppliers in the country have signed up to a new code of practice which comes into effect today. BT, Sky, Virgin Media, and O2 will now give customers the speeds they can expect to receive as they are about to sign up to a contract.

Consumers now want faster broadband speeds as the demand for video streaming increases, but the current system is struggling with demand and at peak times speeds can drop off significantly. Residents who are lucky enough to have a fiber-optic broadband connection get speeds which are a lot nearer to the ones advertised.

BT and Virgin Media offer these sorts of services, and research shows that Virgins Media 30Mbps package achieves slightly higher speeds than those advertised. The take up of fiber-optic services remains low though, as despite them being available to 57 percent of homes only 22 percent of customers have actually signed up for them.

Consumers in the UK have recently given their thoughts of the internet providers in the country, with some companies getting many complaints. Some customers are also frustrated how difficult it can be when wanting to change providers, with some going days without any service at all.

What broadband speeds does your connection provide? Do you get anywhere near the speed advertised?

Once Ofcom gets their way this will pave the way for more ISP competition, which as we know is a key factor with the cost of broadband. Not all will benefit from this latest move though, only customers in certain parts of Cumbria, Northumberland, Northern Ireland, Norfolk, Scotland, south-west of England, Wales and Yorkshire.

It’s not always about price though, we have seen in these areas that the quality of service is not as good as you would get if you were in the south-east. However, this move is expected to improve the service that you get, as customers will then be offered more bandwidth. When broadband was first launched it was capped, then BT and others started to offer unlimited for an extra cost. It now seems like we are going back again, as ISPs and phone networks are now trying to force bandwidth capping one again.

We have to wonder where BT will find the money to make a loss in these other areas, and it does not take a genius to know where. It will not be new customers signing up, it will existing ones who will have to subsidize others. This is a constant issue, as those loyal to BT always seem to get the raw end of the deal.

ZDNet UK has spoken to one BT Wholesale customer, and said that Ofcom’s move will not have the desired effect that it hopes. He notes that prices may go down a little, but the idea of more competition will just not happen. However, what it will do is deter broadband wholesale investors, as they will not want to invest in something that is going down in price.

In the short term we will not see any changes, but then again this could be something that just gets forgotten about. The only way you will know is when your price of BT broadband starts to increase if you are loyal customer – maybe it is now time to switch?

One of the best deals at the moment in the UK is from Sky, as they offer a package that will give you broadband for a fraction of the price of BT.

The average speed in the UK is currently 5.2MB, thats almost 20 faster – although there are those who struggle to achieve 1MB. According to Pocket-lint, upload speeds will also be increased to 10MB, that also 20 times faster as well.

Virgin has also been at the forefront of broadband in the UK – although under a different name – so it was inevitable that they were the ones to offer this much faster service.

Some areas will be upgraded to the 100MB broadband speeds in December; you can check your eligibility here. Virgin Media expects the service to be available in all parts of the UK in 2010 – the ball is now in BT’s court.

Will you consider swapping to Virgin Media if available in your area?