12 June 2009
Only 52% of British households are happy with the speed of the broadband services, according to a survey by uSwitch.com.
The average speed received is 4.2Mb, despite providers advertising speeds of up to 8Mb.
However, a third of those polled are not aware of the advertised speed for their broadband package, while one in six (15%) do not know how to assess their speed.
uSwitch.com Communications Expert Jason Glynn explained that consumers' "need for speed" is only going to increase as technology progresses.
He said: "When signing up to a new service, consumers should ask the provider to run a line test to check what speed they are capable of receiving.
"Existing broadband connections can be checked at home - we recommend using a line checker such as BT Wholesale's ADSL checker or bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics at different times of the day, as speed can also depend on the number of people sharing the network at any one time."
New research by Ofcom indicated that one in five of those without broadband connections already are set to sign up within the next six months.