Should Ofcom Tighten Up Sales Regulations For Isps?
A report published by Ofcom has shown that many customers are not being given the whole picture when purchasing a new broadband package
. According to Ofcom many are being given vague speed estimates by sales people with some customers not being told at all what type of speeds they can expect.
Suggestions have been made that Ofcoms current code of practice for internet service providers (ISPs) are not strict enough after a number of mystery shopper reports carried out by Ofcom showed that ISPs where not forthcoming with the internet speeds its potential customers may experience.
With only a few being given accurate information when they sign up for broadband deals some have called for new mandatory guidelines to be introduced to ensure customers are given a truer picture of their potential broadband service.
Ofcom conducted 1,289 mystery shopper reports across the country putting to the test salespeople on the phones as well as the ISPs internet shops.
The report discovered that 74 percent of mystery shoppers were not told that the actual speed is likely to be less than the maximum line speed.
The shoppers testing telephone sales people discovered that 85 percent were given an estimated speed but nearly half had to prompt the salesperson for the estimate.
The series of mystery shopper reports where introduced after a previous investigation into broadband speeds showed that on average many where not reaching the speeds advertised.
The tests carried out on 10Mb packages showed that Virgin on average reached speeds of 8.7Mb whilst Tisicali was the worst performer with only 3.7Mb.
The Ofcom report has come days after Alistair Darling's budget which included a 6 a year increase on phone line to help fund a national upgrade to fibre optic broadband, the report suggesting that ISPs are under-performing can help the governments bid to help people find the fastest broadband in their area.
Whilst Government plans will take a number of years to come into effect many experts believe that Ofcom's voluntary code of practice needs to be changed to encourage ISPs to talk about actual broadband speeds early on in the sale conversation with Ofcom closely monitoring the situation and punishing the companies that don't play fair.
Until technology catches up with the advertised speeds Ofcom will have to keep a close eye on the providers otherwise more customers could be led down the garden path with false promises of very high download speeds.