Speed: Know Your Limits

It seems that this week everyone's jumping on the 'Speed issue' bandwagon and has something to say about all that data whizzing (or not) around the 'net.The week started with the Broadband Stakeholder Group(BSG),"the industry-government forum tackling strategic issues across the converging broadband value chain.", releasing some interesting info about how telephone line lengths affect broadband speeds. This is certainly nothing new to those in the industry but it is important information for consumers who need to be aware of the limitations of the broadband service provided by their ISP.On the very same day T-Mobile announced that it's topped a YouGov mobile broadband survey of 1,958 coming first in 9 out of 13 categories, including upload and download speeds. Although speed isn't everything and there's no point in having a super fast connection if it's not reliable, T-mobile managed to secure second spot for staying connected. As the number of users choosing flexible mobile broadband over fixed line access increases, it'll be interesting to see if T-Mobile can keep it up or if a traditional fixed line ISP can catch them up.On Wednesday, Virgin Media questioned the reliability of online speedtesters which Virgin Media's Director of Broadband, Jon James, claimed, "Consumers rely on these sites for clear advice and honest results. The fact that many of them cannot accurately measure speeds of 20Mb, and some cannot even accurately measure speeds of 10Mb, demonstrates there is a clear need for more transparency."Further announcements included Manx Telecom boasting an average broadband speed of 5.5Mbps for their customers; Point Topic, partnering with Gavurin, giving free access to a website containing the results of the speed and uptake of ISP broadband services by region; and the independent watchdog, Consumer Focus, criticising Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain Report for its lack of vision, neglecting consumer interests and risk of leaving the UK in the Internet "slow lane".