WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission says U.S. Internet users who get broadband service from cable providers get half the speed they pay for.
Broadband providers that advertised average median downloads speed of 8Mb per second in 2009 actually delivered an average speed of 3Mb per second and a median speed of 4Mb per second, the FCC report said.
Broadband speed is determined by a wide range of factors including congestion, network efficiency and Web site performance that can bog down overall performance, Daily Tech said.
Only so much bandwidth is available, so if your neighbors download lots of movies and video games it could affect your broadband speed.
The report found just 1 percent of users claimed 25 percent of total bandwidth, and the top 10 percent of users 70 percent of the bandwidth. Average usage was 9 gigabytes per month and median usage 2 gigabytes per month.
Most cable broadband providers advertise speeds of "up to xxx Mb/sec" which would not qualify as false advertising, Data Tech said.
