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Issue Date:- 25 February 2008

Average UK broadband speed under 3 Mb

BROADBAND users all over the UK have been testing their speeds and as a result of the 18,558 tests carried out in January 2008 on broadband comparison site Broadband-Expert.co.uk, the average speed in the UK is a pitiful 2.95Mb.

The results varied enormously with the lowest download speed being 1.72Mb from Tiscali, through to the highest average of 6.07Mb with Be broadband. Download speed describes the rate at which a computer downloads information from the internet like emails, web pages, music and video.  The higher download speeds of Be, who also provide the technology behind O2’s broadband service, is partially due to the ADSL2+ technology which allows much greater speeds to be achieved. Most providers currently provide their broadband connections through the more traditional ADSL technology.

“Despite ongoing pressure from Ofcom and various consumer groups, broadband providers are still misleading the public over broadband speeds. Current advertising campaigns like the one for Tiscali broadband promise superfast broadband (download) speeds of up to 8Mb. Yet Tiscali came bottom of our test results with an average actual download speed of just 1.72Mb. Now that is not superfast by any stretch of the imagination and is over 1Mb lower than the UK average.” said William Harvey, Broadband-Expert.co.uk Technical Director.

The average upload speed was clocked at 296Kbs or 0.296Mb. Upload speed is the rate that data is transferred from a computer to the internet and is very important for online gaming, uploading photos to sites like Facebook sending large email attachments, and other activities which transmit information back to the internet from a PC. Upload speeds varied greatly between providers too with Be broadband achieving the fastest average upload speeds of 850Kbs and Orange the slowest at 219Kbs.

“Broadband providers can confuse consumers by stating maximum broadband speeds that are often only achieved by a very small percentage of subscribers.  Providers should state the average download and upload speeds achieved by their broadband subscribers, this would give consumers a better idea of the sort of speeds they are likely to receive and would encourage providers to deliver better broadband products”.

Each month Broadband-Expert.co.uk stores all of the results from the tests and the results of the fastest speeds by providers vary enormously. The highest recorded speed in January 2008 was 23.15Mb from a Be broadband customer down to only 5.99Mb for the fastest Eclipse customer!

“Our recent results, in terms of speed, show that the providers with ADSL2+ technology provide by far the highest speeds.”

For the results of the speed test follow the link and click on the Speed Test Resultstab towards the bottom of the web page on:-
broadband-expert.co.uk 

NATIONWIDE AND HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND LAUNCH NATIONAL SEARCH FOR LOCAL HEROES...

NATIONWIDE Building Society has teamed up with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to launch the Nationwide Community and Heritage Awards 2008, inviting the public to nominate people or groups who deserve recognition for community or voluntary work that has made a real difference to people's lives.

Nominations for the very best and most inspirational volunteers in the UK can be made from today, for either:-

* Community Champion - recognition for those who have made an impact in their local community.

* Heritage Hero - recognition for those who have volunteered to become involved in saving a part of their heritage and sharing it with others.

The awards were previously known as the Nationwide Awards for Voluntary Endeavour (NAVE) and had a very successful ten year history recognising over 13,000 people from across the country. The new Nationwide and HLF partnership will enable more unsung heroes to be recognised for their tremendous efforts as volunteers.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:- "Volunteers make a difference every day to life in our communities and they are hugely important to the nation as a whole. These awards will celebrate the contribution of those everyday heroes who do so much for our national life and I congratulate them all for what they have done."

Michelle Leighton, Nationwide's community & environmental affairs manager, said:- "Nationwide is immensely proud of the strong links it has with local communities. There are many people who volunteer their time on a regular basis to help support others. If you know of anyone who deserves recognition for their volunteering please make sure you nominate them. Together with the Heritage Lottery Fund we want to celebrate the efforts of these dedicated volunteers whilst widening the scope of these already successful awards."

Stephen Boyce, HLF's deputy director of operations, said:- "Volunteers are particularly vital to the heritage sector and well over half of the 26,000 projects we have supported just could not have happened without them. Our research tells us that in just two years we funded projects involving 75,000 volunteers, who together gave over one million hours of their time to the UK's heritage."

2007's winner of the individual adult award, Jane Plumb, said:- "I was delighted to be chosen as the overall winner. As chairman of the Group B Strep Support charity I spend much of my time counselling pregnant women and families who are affected by Group B Streptococcal infection. We now have over 600 members so the money I have been awarded will go a long way to helping even more families and to increase the current levels of support further."

Start nominating now:- Nomination forms can be found online at nationwide.co.uk and hlf.org.uk. Leaflets and nomination forms will be available from Monday 25 February 2008 from local Nationwide Building Society branches, HLF outlets, public libraries and via local newspapers.  The closing date for nominations is Monday 28 April 2008.  A series of regional events for short-listed nominations will be taking place up and down the country at a variety of heritage venues. The final will take place in London during November 2008.

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