Almost every week, at least one mobile broadband service provider comes up with a new plan. The plans come with ever-increasing speeds, which attract prospective customers. However, when it comes to actual performance, the speeds seen on these plans are far lower than those advertised are (click here to compare mobile broadband).

This is because of what some consider a rather unethical practice of false advertising that is prevalent in the mobile broadband business. The speeds being advertised by the providers are the maximum speeds possible in theory. In practice, the experienced speed – even the maximum – is much lower. 3.6 Mbps becomes 3 Mbps, 7.2 Mbps becomes 6 Mbps, and the whopping 14.4 Mbps is actually a much less impressive 10 Mbps.

In order to suitably tone down their bandwidth claims and meet consumers’ expectations, leading mobile broadband providers in Sweden have agreed to take a more honest approach. Telenor, TeliaSonera, Tele2, and 3 have decided to reveal the real world speeds i.e. the practical maximum, of the network in their new ads.

From September 1, the new guidelines would be enforced, forcing each provider to put forward fixed broadband speeds for each technology.

This is great news for users of mobile broadband, as they can now be assured of getting what they are promised at the time of purchase. It is hoped that operators in the UK will move in this direction too without much delay.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 7:33 am and is filed under Consumer Planet, Technology Infos, Telecommunication Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.