How do you improve broadband speeds? [+vid]
It may not be a comfort if your business is plagued by slow broadband but you are not alone.
Friday, 25 Jul 2014 16:16 GMT
Snail pace: many firms have very slow broadband which hampers business
Our recent story about the issues surrounding the problems of running a sign business when your broadband keeps cutting out hit a nerve with readers. A number of firms contacted us to give their stories of frustratingly slow broadband speeds and of not being given the speed advertised by suppliers.
The strange aspect of broadband speed is the wide variety of areas that suffer from the issue. Instead of the Hebrides or businesses at Land’s End complaining some of the worst areas were the most populated. Dronfield in Derbyshire, Stanford-le-Hope in Essex, and Conwy in Wales, were blackspots where in some streets downloading a large file could two working days. According to a report from u.Switch.com Grange Gardens in Hampstead, London has an average download speed of just 1.19Mbps while just down the road at Camel Road, near London's city airport the residents and businesses have the eighth fastest speed in Britain.
Graham Marshall of sign firm Recognition Express says: “I saw your article and agree 100 percent. We had an intermittent (ADSL) broadband issue last year and looked around for a new ISP. We get lots of emails suggesting we switch to fibre but no fibre is available on our industrial estate (bizarrely, it is available in the adjoining village).
“When we spoke to Openreach about it, they told us that there were no plans to install fibre to local industrial estates in the foreseeable future. Certainly not until they had exhausted all the domestic installations. When we pushed them they said that it was more financially attractive to them sell a high-speed leased line than sell BT Infinity to a businesses.”
Meanwhile in Stockport Passion For Print’s Jackie Taylor says: “We are a small business based in Stockport and BT provide our broadband. Two of our machines are connected by ethernet and one wi-fi. The speed is slow and the Mac that is on wi-fi is always being disconnected and so is the other computer which is a PC. We send files on a regular basis and have to use this for proof approval. It is very frustrating when we the internet is slow to respond.”
Another good move is to join your local broadband connection campaign as many of these have worked by businesses clubbing together to put pressure on suppliers”
Ofcom's latest infrastructure report published in October says that eight percent of all broadband connections in the country operate at less than 2Mbps but 30 percent of these 'slow connections' are in areas where superfast networks exist. Around three percent are currently receiving sub-2Mbps speeds and do not have the option of switching to superfast. In theory you can change but as many businesses have told us this is not always possible and that’s the problem. So what you do if you're not getting the broadband speed you were promised?
In the first instance you must complain to your supplier as they may be in breach of contract. Be prepared and send evidence along with a letter to show how slow the speed is and how it affects your business whether you work from home or business premises. If you don’t get a satisfactory reply you can take it to a dispute proceedings and complain to the ombudsman. Another good move is to join your local broadband connection campaign as many of these have worked by businesses clubbing together to put pressure on suppliers.
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This video from Farmers Weekly gives one view of the issue:
