You know what I hate? Peak hours. When your broadband connection is slower than the District Line, slower than a couple on a romantic walk in front of you when you are late for a crucial business meeting. Oh yes, peak hours.
According to a recent study – these are 7pm to 9pm when you, just like any other average broadband user, are streaming your favourite episode of that show you were meant to watch, Skype your aunt Sally, watch amusing videos on YouTube and basically drag broadband speeds from a presentable average of 9.6Mbps to 6.2Mbps.
A separate study showed that the throttling situation in the UK was no exaggeration, some broadband providers like ye olde BT was slowing down a three quarters of all connections, whilst the global throttling average was 32 per cent.
All this while the most common speeds which we see advertised all around the country are “up to” 20Mbps. I especially love the term “up to”.
If I was to tell my boss that I will deliver “up to” 20 targets today and deliver roughly 6 of those, I’d probably lose my job, peak hours or happy hours would not be a good enough excuse. Why is it good enough for ISPs then?
Granted, ASA is changing the situation with some new regulations for ISPs to consider when advertising broadband speeds…
Which leads me to ask why only now?