Ofcom, which is the UK government’s office of communications, exists in essence to ensure that we, the users of communications products are getting a fair deal. As stated by Ofcom, 70% of us now have a Broadband Service in our houses. We are needing the internet do more and more for us. The requirement for online entertainment and “Any Time” viewing is growing to be the norm rather than the exception. We are also seeing a demographic shift in employees moving out of the office surroundings to Work From Home. Lots of these home based employees are in Online Jobs and exist as a result of the broadband link between them and their companies. The files being transferred back and forward between home and office are turning out to be 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 keen to endorse their offering above others. Lately Ofcom have raised a concern regarding the advertised speeds these ISP’s are claiming. Speeds of 20Mb and 24Mb are now being quoted by some of the foremost broadband suppliers such as Talk Talk, Sky and Orange. If you work in one of the various Online Jobs and you require to send and receive large files, then speed and unlimited downloads are important considerations when choosing an ISP. At first glance, the faster the service, the faster you can gain access to the internet and transfer files. This allows your Work From Home to be more economical and consequently more productive. No more watching the clock or playing spider solitaire when you wait for a download.
Nevertheless, broadband speed is not just down to ISP companies in the Internet Business and their products. Consider these broadband products as traffic on a road network. In the first few years we were required to dial up and pay for the enjoyment of getting online, and it was sooooo…. Slow. Nowadays, according to the ISP’S, we roaring down 6 lane highways, transporting huge loads at high speed, with no traffic jams or roadworks. Is there something not entirely right about this image? The basic issue is similar for the ISP’s selling us Broadband, and say, Mercedes selling us cars. ISP’s don’t own the telephone network and in the case of Mercedes, they don’t own the highway
network. You can have the greatest products on earth, but the network may curb their performance to that of low priced and slower products. Ofcom’s own research indicated that the marketed speeds at that time. I have no grounds to believe this is any different today. The gap is most likely larger today than in 2009.The ISP’s can develop their own products more rapidly than BT can improve the telephone lines and exchanges across the country.68

Workers who Work From Home know that their Online Jobs depend on fast and consistent broadband access. But if you live away from a big metropolitan area it is doubtful 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 thrust. The consumers need to test the download speed in their home area and then purchase a broadband product to some extent better than that local area speed.

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