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“Up To” Broadband Speeds are Bogus

That’s according to a recent report of the FCC in the US — broadband subscribers in the US only get around 50% of the promised internet speeds by service providers.

If the report were for the Philippines, I would not be surprised. So, it’s not only us here but also in first world countries like the US & UK.

So I fired up my browser and checked Speed Test:

I’m subscribed to a 2Mbps connection and usually get around 1Mbps. Now that’s also 50% of promised (same %age loss like in the US).

I think the reason why, despite the similarities, the issue is more prominent with us here in the Philippines is not due to the percentage loss in the promised bandwidth but the amount of actual bandwidth itself.

In the US, if you’re subscribed to a 10Mbps connection and only get 5Mbps, I think you will not feel the difference especially when you’re just browsing the web or just watching YouTube.

However, in the Philippines, if you’re subscribed to 1Mbps and only get 512Kbps, you’d significantly feel the speed slowing down.

As an example, my WiFi b/g router at home promises up to 54Mbps speeds on my local network (that’s about 6.75MB/s transfer rate). However, if I try copying files over the WiFi network, I only get around 2.5MB/s (20Mbps). That’s only 37% of promised speed but I don’t complain because I don’t feel the connection being ‘slow’ despite the huge speed loss.

The gap between advertisement and reality isn’t a function of technology—it applied to all kinds of broadband connections, from cable to DSL to fiber. The less-than-ideal speeds aren’t necessarily the “fault” of the ISP, either; crufty computers, poky routers, misconfigured WiFi, transient line noise, and Internet congestion all play a role. {via Ars}

My suggestion is that if the promised speed (with the “up to” labeling) cannot be achieved, why not just change the label instead.

So, how about “Plan 999 @ up to 256Kbps” instead of the current “Plan 999 @ up to 1Mbps”? Then, even if they’re on a 256Kbps plan, put them on a 1Mbps pipe so that when the subscriber tests their speed and they get 512Kbps, they will be happy they got 200% of what they subscribed for.

That’s what I call “under-promise and over-deliver” and not the usual “over-promise and under-deliver” mantra we often get.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

58 Responses

  1. Avatar for marco marco says:

    im currently subscribed to 1mbps plan of globe wimax and my dwnld speed us only .5 mbps. Ung kapitbhay ko plan 512kbps but then unlike mine he has the 512kbps speed. These were tested using speedtest.net.

    Ung ang malaking complaint ko. Kung ganun din sana na pareho yung speed eh mas lugi na ako. Its some sort of contract defect kasi they ought to give 1mbps but only delivers half. I think the dti and ntc should take a look at this issue.

  2. Avatar for Beni Beni says:

    Burst speed for consumer broadband internet is true for all countries. Even in Japan, 1G FTTH connections don’t reach 1gbps all the time.

  3. Avatar for JP JP says:

    *250-300 KBps pala, haha

  4. Avatar for JP JP says:

    *It’s my conjecture

    Here’s a screenshot of my blisteringly fast DL speeds for multiple files.

    http://i36.tinypic.com/rssksn.jpg

  5. Avatar for arman arman says:

    @philip i also get faster speed around 3-7am 3:33am yung result mo..

    @sir abe since this issue is very true, do consumer have grounds or valid reason to terminate contract? base on DTI regulation..

  6. Avatar for JP JP says:

    I get more than what I pay for with Globelines Broadband. Its my conjecture that the bandwidth you’re getting depends on the location and the number of households the base station is feeding data to.

    I’m a megaupload premium user and I get around 250-300 kbps on a single file download. BTW, I’m subscribed to the 2mbps wired plan.

    I have an unusually high ping though. But that doesn’t matter. I don’t play online games anyway.

  7. Avatar for pril pril says:

    i agree with the other posts. i am subscribed to pldt up to 2mbps. and i always get this. 1.54mbps http://www.speedtest.net/result/919969455.png
    that’s not 50% of what’s promised.

  8. Avatar for phiLLip phiLLip says:

    I’m currently subscribed to a 1Mbps connection but I don’t see any bogus there. It gives me exactly 1Mbps speed and occasionally it reaches up to 1.34Mbps..
    http://www.speedtest.net/result/919939628.png

  9. Avatar for phiLLip phiLLip says:

    I’m currently subscribed to a 1Mbps connection but I don’t see any bogus there. It gives me exactly 1Mbps speed and occasionally it reaches up to 1.34Mbps..
    [URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/919939628.png[/IMG][/URL]

  10. Avatar for -m -m says:

    Same same

  11. Avatar for gringo gringo says:

    my twicks po ba para tumaas ang bandwidth? or net speed?

  12. Avatar for phiLLip phiLLip says:

    I’m currently subscribed to a 1Mbps connection but I don’t see any bogus there. It gives me exactly 1Mbps speed and occasionally it reaches up to 1.34Mbps..

  13. Avatar for lawrence lawrence says:

    why would isp change it to “up to a lower speed”? people always have the impression that the advertised specs is lower than the real life experience, so if they advertised it with lower value (ex: 384kbps inplace for 1mbps), iispin ng tao sobrang baba na ang makukuha nila.. I mean, obviously, it’s all about marketing.. “Misleading” has been the practice since commercial marketing started T_T

  14. Avatar for krheez8 krheez8 says:

    @abeolandres I’m subscribed to a 1mbps connection but I don’t see any bogus there http://tinyurl.com/2d78w53

  15. Avatar for LunaTech LunaTech says:

    i definitely agree with sir abe… thumbs up sir!

  16. Avatar for Num Lock Num Lock says:

    This is like the 1.4mb floppy disk that you only get an actual 1.38mb storage. Same with my 1tb storage where I only get around 900mb.

    False advertising.

  17. Avatar for Darwin Darwin says:

    Fortunately, I’m getting about 95% of my 768 kbps/1.2 Mbps (SOD) subscribed speed from Bayan DSL. It’s been the case since ’05 that’s why I’m quite satisfied with their service. However, this is not the case with my Digitel ADSL back in the province. Most of the time, I’m getting about 128 kbps or just 25% of the advertised speed of 512 kbps.

    Regarding the 54 Mbps theoretical maximum of an 802.11g router, that 54 Mbps is actually the signaling rate and not the data throughput. The actual throughput is about less than half of that, or about 22 Mbps (in my experiments), because of protocol overhead and the fact that 802.11g is half-duplex (Tx OR Rx at a time, but never both at the same time).

  18. Avatar for Jon Jon says:

    Who’s your ISP Sir Abe? I remember back then when I was subscribed to PLDT’s MyDSL. I got the 1mbps package, and for a couple of months, I only get 700kbps. I complained several times, and they said something like that is normal since you get 70 percent of the bandwidth I am paying for.

    So I threatened them that I would have my subscription terminated, since they are not providing me the bandwidth I was paying for that time, soon they adjusted by bandwidth, and I was getting a consistent 1mbps connection.

  19. Avatar for iamkarz iamkarz says:

    @abeolandres which one is better: skycable broadband or pldt mydsl?

  20. Avatar for hubes hubes says:

    mas maganda yun up to 1mbps than up to 256kbps.

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