Some 32 ISPs, covering over 90% of broadband customers, have
already agreed to honour both the letter and the spirit of the Code
to give consumers a clearer understanding of the speeds they can
get. Signatories include BT Total Broadband, Virgin Media,
TalkTalk, Tiscali and AOL Broadband.
Ofcom is concerned that consumers could be misled or misinformed
when choosing their broadband services by ISPs advertising headline
speeds that are higher than users can receive in practice. Ofcom’s
own research has shown that consumer satisfaction of ISPs has
fallen over the last year.
Under the new voluntary Code of Practice, fixed-line ISPs are
required to take four steps:
- provide customers at the point of sale with an accurate
estimate of the maximum speed that the line can support, whether it
is in the shop, over the internet or on the phone;
- resolve technical issues to improve speed and offer customers
the choice to move onto a lower speed package when estimates given
are inaccurate;
- ensure all sales and promotion staff have a proper
understanding of the products they are selling so they can explain
to their customers the meaning of the estimates provided at the
point of sale; and
- provide consumers with information on usage limits and alerting
customers when they have breached them.
An ISP does not need to tell a consumer its customers' average
connection speed under the Code. But the regulator is also
undertaking a broadband speed survey to identify actual broadband
performance across the country and its relationship to advertised
headline speeds. An Ofcom spokeswoman told OUT-LAW that the Code
might be amended after that exercise to ensure that consumers are
given a useful indication of what speed they can expect to
receive.
Ofcom is urging all fixed-line ISPs to sign up to this Code and
to implement it in full within six months of signing.
Ofcom will monitor compliance, including through mystery
shopping exercises, to determine if ISPs are meeting both the
letter and spirit of the Code. If Ofcom finds that this voluntary
approach is not effective in addressing the issues covered by the
Code, it will consider introducing formal regulations, it said.
Separately, Ofcom will consider whether to extend the Code or
develop another Code to cover mobile broadband services.
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