Peak time traffic troubles ISPs

Some broadband suppliers suffer more with network congestion than others, a report has claimed.

Though some ISPs such as O2 and Orange manage to provide good connections speeds for most customers even at peak times, others such as Eclipse, Tiscali and PlusNet struggle, according to Broadband.co.uk.

"Some suppliers such as Be, O2 and Orange manage to keep average speeds high across all time periods, whereas others see their speeds drop quite significantly during the peak periods suggesting that they struggle with capacity," said Edd Dawson of Broadband.co.uk.

The speed tests were carried out in May 2008 and showed that the average download speed for broadband connections in the UK was 3.36Mbps, compared to 2.67Mbps in November 2007.

The issue of broadband speed has been in the news recently after Ofcom introduced a voluntary code of practice regulating the way ISPs advertise connection speeds.

www.broadband.co.uk