UK's broadband speeds "significantly below" those advertised

The actual speed of UK broadband is not living up to what's being advertised, a new report from Ofcom has revealed.

According to the industry watchdog, the average speed received by consumers is 3.6Mbps, compared with a maximum possible speed of 4.3Mbps.

While this is capable of supporting a large amount of internet functionality, users are seeing just 45 per cent of the advertising headline speed on average.

As an example, of the 60 per cent of broadband users who are signed up to an 'up to 8Mbps' deal, around 20 per cent only achieve an average speed of 2Mbps.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards commented: "We want to see all internet service providers meet the needs of their customers by clearly explaining what speeds they should expect and by ensuring that their networks meet consumers' increasing demand for higher speed broadband."

The organisation brought in a code of practice last year, which was aimed at ensuring consumers were made aware of what speeds they could expect when they signed up.