You cannot blame consumers for being a bit confused about their internet access speeds, which are, virtually always, offered “best effort,” without quality of service guarantees that provide a minimum “always available” speed.
Even on a single service provider’s network, with identical network platforms and the same amounts of resource sharing, the difference between the bottom 10 percent and top 10 percent of experienced speeds easily can reach 500 percent.
One expects that sort of variance on telco digital subscriber line access networks, where speed and distance are inversely related. Customers on shorter access lines always will tend to experience higher speeds than customers on long access lines.
The same sort of gaps also seem to exist on fiber to home networks where access line distance should not make much difference.
Those differences do not reflect “busy hour” congestion, when typical speeds on every platform will tend to dip, but only the high-low differences across a single service provider’s network.
UK Broadband Providers and Services in April 2017
(Download Speed in Mbps)
| ||||
Provider
|
Download Speed of bottom 10%
|
Median Download
|
Mean Download
|
Download Speed of top 10%
|
Hyperoptic Gigabit
|
107
|
253.7
|
268.1
|
499
|
Virgin 300 Mbps
|
34.3
|
89
|
108.4
|
215.9
|
BT Infinity 3&4 (FTTP)
|
39.8
|
73.3
|
93.3
|
191.2
|
B4RN
|
2.7
|
62.8
|
143.7
|
405.7
|
Virgin 100 Mbps
|
19.5
|
56.3
|
55.5
|
90.9
|
Zen Internet up to 76 Mbps (FTTC)
|
27.5
|
55.7
|
53.4
|
73.7
|
TalkTalk UFO (York)
|
16.8
|
54.2
|
68.7
|
137.2
|
BT Infinity 2 (FTTC)
|
29
|
50.9
|
50.6
|
72.5
|
BT Infinity 2 (FTTP)
|
27.6
|
49.8
|
52.7
|
82.8
|
KCom Lightstream
|
27.6
|
49.8
|
52.7
|
82.8
|
AAISP (FTTC)
|
22.2
|
49.1
|
68.8
|
73.6
|
Virgin Media 200 Mbps
|
24.4
|
48
|
77.4
|
159.3
|
Hyperoptic 100 Mbps
|
21
|
47.8
|
50
|
78.2
|
Small/Medium providers - up to 76 Mbps (FTTC)
|
22.4
|
45.9
|
47.7
|
72.8
|
Gigaclear
|
21.1
|
42.4
|
66.5
|
98.8
|
PlusNet Fibre Extra (FTTC up to 76 Mbps)
|
17.5
|
38.9
|
40.1
|
66.1
|
Sky Fibre Pro up to 76 Mbps
|
26.6
|
38.5
|
44.2
|
63.7
|
EE Fibre Plus up to 76 Mbps
|
22.2
|
37.4
|
39.9
|
61.6
|
IDNet (FTTC)
|
14.9
|
37
|
40.5
|
72.9
|
Daisy Wholesale (FTTC)
|
12.9
|
36.6
|
38.3
|
71
|
SeeTheLight (IFNL - FTTH)
|
12.2
|
36.3
|
36.2
|
57.6
|
TalkTalk Fibre Plus up to 76 Mbps
|
15.1
|
31.7
|
33.5
|
56.3
|
Vodafone Broadband (FTTC)
|
12.8
|
29.5
|
31.6
|
52.4
|
BT Infinity 1 (FTTP)
|
10.8
|
29.3
|
29.1
|
47.6
|
BT Infinity 1 up to 52 Mbps (FTTC)
|
12.5
|
29.3
|
29.8
|
48.7
|
Eclipse (FTTC)
|
10.6
|
29
|
33.4
|
63.6
|
PlusNet Fibre (FTTC) up to 38 Mbps
|
14.1
|
28.3
|
27.1
|
37.1
|
EE Fibre (FTTC) up to 38 Mbps
|
10.8
|
26.3
|
24.8
|
36
|
Sky Fibre (FTTC) up to 38 Mbps
|
11.6
|
26
|
26.4
|
37.5
|
TalkTalk Faster Broadband (FTTC) up to 38 Mbps
|
12.5
|
25.2
|
25
|
36.9
|
Zen Internet (FTTC) up to 38 Mbps
|
7.4
|
22.9
|
22.4
|
36.9
|
Small/Medium Providers (FTTC) up to 38 Mbps
|
7.8
|
22.5
|
22.3
|
36.9
|
EE Mobile
|
3.1
|
21.6
|
28.3
|
59.3
|
Virgin 50 Mbps
|
2.6
|
21.3
|
24.4
|
52
|
Hyperoptic 20 Mbps
|
5.3
|
20.3
|
16.9
|
22
|
Vodafone Mobile
|
3.6
|
15.5
|
19.1
|
40.2
|
O2 WiFi
|
2
|
14.8
|
18.4
|
39.4
|
Quickline (Fixed Wirless)
|
4.3
|
12.6
|
13.3
|
23.9
|
Relish
|
2.1
|
11.4
|
15.3
|
33
|
O2 Mobile
|
2.6
|
11.2
|
15.8
|
34.4
|
Europasat (satellite)
|
2.5
|
10.5
|
11.1
|
21.3
|
Three Mobile
|
1.9
|
10.4
|
16.6
|
39.8
|
IDNet (ADSL)
|
2.5
|
7.1
|
8.8
|
16.3
|
KCom (ADSL)
|
2.2
|
6.6
|
7.4
|
13.2
|
Zen Internet (ADSL)
|
1
|
6.2
|
7.6
|
16.3
|
Vodafone Broadband (ADSL)
|
0.9
|
5.8
|
7.1
|
15.6
|
EE (ADSL)
|
1.1
|
5.8
|
6.9
|
14.9
|
Plusnet (ADSL)
|
0.9
|
5.8
|
6.9
|
15.1
|
Sky (ADSL)
|
1.2
|
5.7
|
7
|
15.1
|
Entanet (ADSL)
|
1.7
|
5.7
|
7
|
14.2
|
source: Think Broadband
