Sky tops broadband value study

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Telecoms / Utilities

Dan Leahul

August 10, 2009

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1 minute

Sky tops broadband value study

LONDON - Sky Broadband delivers the best internet speeds for per pound spent, but those with the need for speed are best off with Virgin Media, says new research from Simplifydigital.

BT delivers least value for money when it comes to broadband: study

Following Ofcom's report last month that broadband providers were often not delivering the internet speeds they advertised, analysed the current cost of each service to calculate the best value provider in terms of speed delivered, per pound spent.

Sky topped the table at £1.14 per Mb of spend, less than half the cost of BT broadband.

Yet the service is only available to Sky TV customers, leaving non-customers with a choice between Tiscali, Plusnet, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, which all offered broadband at under £2 per Mb.

BT, which comes bottom of the table, costs nearly £3 per Mb.

Virgin Media which costs the same per month than BT, delivers internet speeds at nearly twice the rate as any competitor, on average 8.4Mbs.

Charlie Ponsonby, CEO of Simplifydigital, said the research shows a huge gap in value for money between broadband providers.

He said: "Broadband speed is vital, so we strongly encourage customers to consider how much broadband speed they will actually get for their money, before signing up. This is where our rankings are so useful."

Last month Ofcom revealed that broadband providers are often advertising wildly inaccurate internet speeds, with most claiming "up to" 8mbs for the service, while on average delivering speeds of about 4Mbs.

The worst offender was Tiscali, which although advertising 8mbs speeds, was only delivering between on average 3.2Mbs to 3.7Mbs. AOL, like Tiscali owned by Carphone Warehouse, came in with a similar score.

The best provider was Virgin Media, which advertised "up to" 10mbs and delivered 8.1mbs to 8.7mbs.

The Simplifydigital table is as follows:

Sky

Average speed: 4.4Mb/sec

Monthly cost: £5

Price/Mb: £1.14

Tiscali

Avg speed: 3.5Mb/sec

Monthly cost: £4.37

Price/Mb: £1.25

Plusnet

Average speed: 4.4Mb/sec

Monthly cost: £5.99