Ofcom, which is the UK government’s office of communications, exists in essence to make certain that we, the recipients of communications products are getting a fair deal. According to Ofcom, 70% of us now have a Broadband Service in our domiciles. We are needing the internet do more and more for us. The demand for online entertainment and “Any Time” viewing is turning into the norm rather than the exception. We are furthermore seeing a demographic shift in employees moving out of the office surroundings to Work From Home. Many of these home based employees are in Online Jobs and exist because of the broadband link between them and their companies. The files being moved back and forward between home and office are getting larger and larger as the technology develops.

The broadband providers or ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) are commercial corporations, and like any other company in the Internet Business they are devoted to uphold their service above others. Lately Ofcom have raised a concern regarding the advertised speeds these ISP’s are alleging. Speeds of 20Mb and 24Mb are now being cited by some of the key broadband suppliers such as Talk Talk, Sky and Orange. If you work in one of the many Online Jobs and you need to send and receive large files, then speed and unlimited downloads are important considerations when deciding on an ISP. At first glance, the faster the product, the faster you can access the internet and transfer files. This allows your Work From Home to be more efficient and as a result more productive. No more looking at the clock or playing spider solitaire when you wait for a download.

Then again, broadband speed is not only attributable to ISP companies in the Internet Business and their products. Consider these broadband products as traffic on a road network. In the early days we owned to dial up and pay for the enjoyment of getting online, and it was sooooo…. Slow. These days, according to the ISP’S, we drivemotorways, transporting huge loads at high speed, with no traffic jams or roadworks. Is there something not fully right about this image? The underlying issue is the same for the ISP’s selling us Broadband, and say, Mercedes selling us cars. ISP’s don’t own the telephony network and in the case of Mercedes, they don’t own the highway

network. You can have the greatest products around, but the network may contstrain their performance to that of cheaper and slower products. Ofcom’s own research indicated that the marketed speeds at that time. I have no cause to believe this is at all different today. The gap is probably larger today than in 2009.The ISP’s can improve their own products quicker than BT can improve the telephone lines and exchanges across the country.68

People who Work From Home know that their Online Jobs rely on fast and dependable broadband access. But if you live away from a large metropolitan area it is unlikely that you will attain anything near a 20-24 Mb broadband speed. I cannot see any Internet Business lowering their performance claims as this is their major selling point. The shoppers need to verify the download speed in their home area and then buy a broadband product somewhat better than that local area speed.