This month Ofcom announced what many consumers and businesses have long recognised, that: "Actual broadband speeds are generally well below advertised speeds" and that "The average download speed received for 'up to' 20/24Mbit/s DSL packages was 6.5Mbit/s while for 'up to' 8/10Mbit/s DSL services it was 3.3Mbit/s."

Whilst the research focused primarily on the consumer market, in April's edition of the Loop, we discussed the benefits of Ethernet First Mile (EFM). We argued that many businesses pay a hefty price for speeds of 4Mb, 8Mb or 10Mb but receive far less than the advertised speed, because their chosen ISP use a Bonded DSL connection, rather than EFM.

We welcome Ofcom's call for better transparency. We reiterate that, fundamentally, EFM is a better system and does what it says on the tin.  That's why we now have 900 exchanges around the UK enabling us to offer 2Mb, 5Mb and 10Mb EFM services on a nationwide basis from November 2010. We are already taking pre-orders so do contact us if you want to upgrade your services.