The study by the German telecommunications regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, measured the Internet connection speeds of 250,000 consumers from June through December last year, making it one of the largest reviews of broadband service.
The results showed that only 21 percent of mobile phone broadband users, and only 15.7 percent of those using fixed telephone lines, received the advertised maximum speeds.
Nearly half of German consumers using the supposedly fastest wireless broadband networks, which run Long Term Evolution technology, received Internet service at speeds that were half or less than half as fast as the advertised maximum, the regulator found.
The German report is believed to mirror the results of an even broader study currently being compiled by the European Commission on broadband performance across the 27-nation bloc. According to a person with knowledge of the commission’s study, which is in the final review stages before publication, the commission found a similar case of operators largely failing to deliver on promises of maximum broadband speeds across Europe.
For consumers, slower connection speeds can make for the slower execution of nearly every click of a Web browser, resulting in delays in summoning Web sites or interrupting streaming video, for example.
The study is significant because Germany was one of the first countries in Europe to adopt high-speed, Long Term Evolution service on a national basis.
In Europe, and in the rest of the world, telecom operators are not legally bound to provide broadband service at a specified rate of speed. Most advertise service in packages with speeds of “up to” a certain level, which in Germany can range from as little as 2 to 50 megabits a second.
Attempts in Brussels to include a legal “minimum speed” obligation on European operators have so far been rebuffed by industry.
Jochen Homann, the Bundesnetzagentur president, said his agency’s study confirmed what most German consumers long suspected: Their service was much slower than what their operator had advertised.
Mr. Homann, in a statement, said he planned to begin a “dialogue” with operators to improve the accuracy of their broadband advertising claims.
The German market is dominated by four main operators — Deutsche Telekom, which runs the former landline monopoly and the mobile market leader, T-Mobile; and mobile carriers Vodafone, O2, a unit of Telefónica, and E-Plus, owned by Dutch operator KPN.
Philipp Blank, a Deutsche Telekom spokesman in Bonn, said technical reasons prevent operators from guaranteeing a specific broadband speed to each customer. The quality of a landline connection is influenced by the length of the copper wire from a home to the phone junction box in the street, with longer connections leading to slower speeds, he said.
With mobile broadband, the level of traffic flowing over a single base station can significantly affect individual performance. Deutsche Telekom gives each customer a “very narrow range” of their expected broadband speeds based on an analysis of their local wiring and consumers can void newly signed contracts if they wish, Mr. Blank said.
“For physical and technical reasons, we simply have to offer customers some kind of range of speeds in our tariffs,” Mr. Blank said.
Michael Bobrowski, a spokesman for the Verbraucherschutzzentral Bundesverband, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, said he was skeptical that the regulator would wring concessions from operators to improve broadband advertising.
“This study is not surprising because we have known this to be the situation for years,” Mr. Bobrowski said. “We called for operators to stop doing this back in 2008, but none have done anything. So I’m not sure what voluntary agreements will achieve.”
Mr. Bobrowski agreed there were technical constraints that made it difficult for operators to guarantee broadband speeds. But the main reason for the discrepancy between advertised speed and performance is the operators own advertising policies, he added.
“It’s the competitive situation,” Mr. Bobrowski said. “They are all trying to win customers by promising very enticing speeds. The problem is that consumers cannot verify in advance what kind of speeds they will ultimately receive.”
Mr. Bobrowski said that operators should be required to provide binding, legal minimum speed guarantees in service contracts.
Mr. Homann, the German regulatory chief, said he hoped to convince operators to offer a more narrow range of speeds in their broadband advertising.
“I am very hopeful that Internet providers will make an effort to provide the necessary transparency over what an Internet connection can deliver — and what it can’t,” Mr. Homann said. “Customers should be able to better evaluate the quality of their Internet connections.”
A change in Germany’s main telecommunications law last year gave the regulator the power to improve the “transparency” of telecommunications products. But whether that mandate would let the regulator impose “minimum speed” obligations — which would set a global precedent — is debatable and could be legally challenged by operators.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/technology/internet-speeds-fail-to-meet-promises-in-germany-study-shows.html?partner=rss&emc=rss