Faster broadband and the 20Mb myth

Currently broadband is offered over standard telephone lines with connection speeds advertised as being “up to 20Mb”.

This is an impressive 500 times faster than the typical speeds experienced on the dial-up internet connections that were commonplace just 10 years ago.

Actual speeds

However, no-one that has a broadband service that is advertised at “up to 20Mb” can actually achieve a speed of 20Mb.

Connection speeds on broadband services that are advertised as being “up to 20Mb” typically vary from 1Mb to 15Mb depending on the length and quality of the telephone line used to transmit the broadband signal from the customer’s premises to the telephone exchange.

Unfortunately, there nothing that can be done about these speed variations as this is the nature of broadband provision over standard telephone lines.

The longer the telephone line and the poorer the line quality then the slower the broadband connection speed.

Unfair pricing?

All internet service providers have a single price for their advertised “up to 20Mb” service.

In other words, customers that have a 1Mb service are charged at the same price as customers that achieve speeds of 15Mb.

This would seem to be unfair, but from the point of view of the internet service provider the cost of providing service to low-speed customers is the same as that for providing service to high-speed customers.

By-passing the local exchange

Some remote communities have found a way of increasing their broadband speeds by reducing the length of their telephone line.

They have achieved this by installing the broadband equipment in their local telephone line distribution cabinet rather than in their local telephone exchange.

This solution offers broadband service where previously none was possible and also significantly higher speeds to those who previously had a very slow broadband connection.

However, this is an expensive solution since the community has to pay for the equipment that is installed in the distribution cabinet together with the connection from the cabinet to the internet.

The other way to bypass the local exchange to achieve higher broadband speeds is to use a wireless connection of some description (eg community WiFi, satellite or mobile network).

Other broadband speed issues

Another problem with broadband speeds is that the speed that the telephone line supports is usually not the speed that is experienced.

There are many reasons for this which will be the subject of a future blog.