7 February 2007
An independent authority on internet performance and service has announced its top five broadband providers.
Epitiro's fourth quarter Internet Performance Indicator Report revealed that Orange, BT, Virgin, Demon and Pipex were the UK's top five broadband providers.
Orange was hailed as the choice for hardcore internet gamers as it had the best 'ping' time – the time it takes for data updates to be translated from the internet to a computer.
BT scored the highest overall and was also praised for having the fastest HTTP download speed, used by subscribers for ordinary browsing.
Pipex came second overall and boasted the fastest FTP upload speed to users' personal webspaces.
Virgin had the lowest percentage of connection failures and had the lowest packet loss rate, which can lead to problems streaming video and audio over the web.
Demon, which came fourth overall, helped to keep out the tough competition from AOL and Tiscali with its overall improved service and performance.
Interestingly, the provider with the highest internet speed – Plusnet - wasn't one of those in the top five over all, showing that to Epitiro, speed isn't everything.
"A broadband connection isn't just about speed," explained Epitiro's managing director Gavin Johns.
"The connection has to be available when you need it and with the growth of VoIP, internet gaming and videoconferencing, it has to be able to deal with lots of different online activities."
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
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