Fastest broadband speeds are most disappointing to consumers

Consumers who pay for the fastest broadband speeds are receiving significantly slower connections than they expected, latest figures show.

Consumer watchdog Which? carried out analysis of broadband tests and found overall speeds were only 58% of those expected by users.

The results show that the faster the expected speed, the bigger the expectation gap between what consumers thought they were buying and what they actually received.

Consumers expecting speeds in excess of 30Mbps (between 30Mbps and 500Mbps) were on average only able to get 54% of the speed they were expecting.

Whereas users who expected internet speeds of between 10 to 30Mbps and received 89% of what they anticipated.

Consumers who anticipated receiving 10Mbps or lower received 38% higher speed than they expected.

Which? conducted its analysis of 226,000 Speedchecker Ltd tests from January to March 2017 which showed "far too many households" were potentially receiving slower internet speeds than they paid for.

Which? managing director of home services Alex Neill said: "Consumers need to regularly test their broadband speed to check they are getting the service they are paying for.

"If they aren't they should contact their provider so that any issues with their service can be resolved."