A recent study into broadband speeds has shown that there is often a sizable difference between the speed a company promises and the speed a customer gets. The study was undertaken over a six-month period by Broadband Expert, a broadband comparison website. The company looked at the speeds of 11,000 broadband customers were receiving and compared them to the speeds advertised. Nine major broadband providers were scrutinized.

Optus came out on top as having the smallest difference between advertised speed and actual download time. It also had the fastest download speeds overall. The company with the slowest average download speeds was AAPT and the company with the biggest difference between advertised speeds and reality was Dodo.

Director of Broadband Expert, Richard Patterson explained that download speeds being slower than expected is not always the fault of the Internet Service Provider. He said that problems with routers and with the computer a customer is using can slow down connection speeds. He went on to say that slowness may be experienced by those using a wireless router especially if someone else is sharing the internet connection.

Rob Weber, Broadband Expert’s commercial director said that ISPs needed to start advertising the speeds available in a customers area to those customers so that they can look at all the options available before deciding on which broadband provider is best suited to their needs. He said that Australian internet providers needed to start to become more transparent to their customers.