Survey Sez 09/24/12

More than 80 percent of respondents to a recent Web-based ISPreview.co.uk survey claim to "require" a minimum real-world broadband download speed of 10 Mbps or more but only about third actually receive their desired speed. In addition, 63 percent say their broadband speed is no better than it was last year, despite Ofcom claiming the average broadband download speed had jumped from 7.6 Mbps in November 2011 to 9 Mbps in May 2012. However, the U.K, regulator tempered those numbers by saying most of the increase was a result of the often disproportionate impact of new super-fast broadband services in urban areas, while networks in rural areas recorded only a minimal improvement (from 3.3 Mbps to 3.5 Mbps over the same period). "The study reveals a strong demand for faster connectivity and suggests that the vast majority of respondents would be unhappy with the U.K. government’s current Universal Service Commitment, which aims to make a minimum broadband speed of at least 2 Mbps available to everybody in the country by 2015," comments ISPreview.co.uk Founder, Mark Jackson. "Clearly, 2 Mbps isn’t enough.”