fyi... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <Ryan [ dot ] HEATH [ at ] ec [ dot ] europa [ dot ] eu> Date: Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 11:13 AM Subject: Major EU-wide testing: consumers get only 74% of the broadband speed they pay for; cable is most reliable performer Morning folks, *We've run more than 75 million tests and the results are in: * - *Consumers get as little as 40% **or 44% **of the internet speeds they pay for **(**DSL broadband in **France** and UK)**… and an average of 74% * - *C**able, followed by fibre**,** b**roadband provides the most reliable broadband speeds*. (Fibre is faster on average, but less reliable compare to the advertised speeds consumers agree to pay for). This confirms a trend we are noticing elsewhere about cable being the strongest performing part of the telecoms sector today, so we think it's important to emphasise this achievement on their part. See the full details below and attached. These results represent the first of three stages of testing and publicity; they are, basically, the pilot of a much wider transparency programme. The Commission believes that broadband markets need to be more transparent in order to work better. Today people don’t know what they are signing up for, or the fact that they aren't getting what they pay for. *I**n 2014 we will publish how each company performs compared to its competitors**, in addition to t**oday's level of information about *how cable versus fibre versus DSL performs, and differences between EU member states. *NO EMBARGO – but only be available in all languages at 11h45 CET on** the Commission press database*: *http://ec.europa.eu/rapid*<http://ec.europa.eu/rapid> Ryan *Broadband in Europe: Consumers are not getting the Internet speeds they are paying for * Europeans consumers are not getting the broadband download speeds they pay for. On average, they receive only 74% of the advertised headline speed they have paid for, according to a new European Commission study on fixed broadband performance. Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes says: *"This is the first time the difference between advertised and actual broadband speeds is confirmed by comparable and reliable data from all EU member states.” *There are significant differences in the European national markets, most likely due to advertising practices. Kroes says *“Consumers need more of this sort of data to help make informed choices, so we will repeat the exercise. And we take these first results as further proof of the need for a real connected single market."* Key findings in the study include: - *Cable has the most reliable download speeds: *The European average of 74% hides significant variation in the performance of different technologies. xDSL based services achieved only 63.3% of the advertised headline download speed, compared to 91.4% for cable and 84.4% for FTTx. (see annex). - *In absolute terms, the average download speed across all countries and all technologies was 19.47 Mbps during peak hours. *FTTx services achieved the fastest speeds at 41.02Mbps. Cable services achieved 33.10Mbps, whilst xDSL services lagged far behind at 7.2Mbps on average. - *The upload speeds are closer to their advertised speeds. *Across Europe, the average upload speed was 6.20 Mbps, representing 88% of advertised upload speeds. FTTx services achieved the highest speeds by far, at 19.8Mbps. This is because many FTTx services provide an upload speed far closer to the download speed. Cable and xDSL services achieved a modest 3.68Mbps and 0.69Mbps respectively. Results are based on peak time performance, which is defined as weekdays 7:00pm to 11:00pm (inclusive). These are the overall results of the study sample and do not refer to the actual composition of the broadband market across each country. *Volunteers needed:* *T**wo more annual measurements are planned** later this year and in 2014 **. *European consumers can measure their own ISPs performance by joining a community of volunteers across all EU27 countries plus Croatia, Iceland and Norway. Selected consumers will be sent a small device to plug into their home Internet connection. This device will run a series of automated tests when the line is not in use. It will establish the speed and performance of their broadband connection. Go to this page for further information. *Go here for further information* <https://www.samknows.eu/>. *Background * Speeds of broadband products are advertised as "up to XX Mbit/s". This speed is called "advertised", "nominal" or "headline" speed and it is what we see in the adverts. Variations in download performance between Member States are primarily driven by the technologies that have historically been deployed in those countries. Almost half of EU subscribers claim that they sometimes experience difficulties accessing online content and applications due to insufficient speed or capacity. This is the first study on broadband performance that covers all EU member states, including, Croatia. The project is being run by broadband performance testing specialist, SamKnows, which has already conducted similar projects in the UK and the US. The Phase 1 report was completed independently of ISPs, however ISPs are invited to participate in Phase 2 and should contact ec [ at ] samknows [ dot ] com for more information. Results were taken in March 2012 from a panel of 9,104 participants. A total of 3,065,341,850 measurements were taken across 75,978,173 unique tests. _____________________________ Spokesperson, European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes *Twitter @RyanHeathEU* *Mobile: +32 460 750 221 * NOTE: - Action will not be taken on emails where I am only in "cc" - Emails with specific deadlines and accurate subject lines will be prioritised --- -- http://www.eellak.gr/, http://mycontent.ellak.gr/, http://www.creativecommons.gr/, http://mathe.ellak.gr/, http://fablabathens.gr/
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QualityofBroadbandServicesintheEUMarch.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document