ISPs Lie About Broadband "Up To" Speeds

Haffner writes "Ars Technica has an article detailing the difference between ISP advertised 'up to x Mbps' speeds and the actual speeds, in addition to some possible solutions. They find that on average, the advertised speeds were 'up to 6.7 Mbps' while the real median was 3 Mbps and the mean was 4 Mbps. This implies that ISPs were falsely advertising by at least 50%."

Comments

Re:Well, there is a solution of sorts:

[smooth wombat]

Ahh yes, the old fallacy of "just switch". So, what are people like me supposed to do where you have exactly two providers, both offering the same level of service for the same amount of money? That's right, I'm in Comcast/Verizon hell.

Neither is willing to lower their prices or offer just internet only plans at the same speeds as the bundled package, nor for the price of 1/3 of the bundled price ($33/month).

So, either you keep jumping back and forth between the two, hoping you can get a better deal for a short time, or you drop everything and start piecing out which company gets which piece of the pie.

Competition in many parts of the U.S. is non-existent for various reasons, the main being because local governments have exclusive agreements with one or two firms so there is no reason to have price competition.

If the current administration was truly serious about getting broadband availability to just about everyone, they would force the states to open the door wide to competition and stop the shenanigans.

And yes, I do realize the sarcasm of your post.