It's 10 years since the first consumer was connected to an internet broadband network in the UK. As controversy over the accuracy of broadband speed claims rages on, Virgin Media CEO NEIL BERKETT asks if you are getting a fair deal,Abercrombie and Fitch Polos.tion i n t o WHEN you pay for a pint, you don't expect to get a half just because the barman is busy.Or for the postman to deliver only a handful of your letters because you live far from the sorting office.Yet millions of internet users are getting short-changed in exactly this way every day - without knowing it - because their broadband speed is nowhere near as fast as they are expecting and paying for.In many cases, it's so much slower that their music, films or video downloads will be crawling along at just a quarter of the speed they're paying for.This gulf between expectation and reality is caused by the way home broadband packages are advertised and sold,Abercrombie & Fitch T-Shirts.Internet service providers (ISPs) routinely advertise packages promising speeds of up to 20Mb.AMBITIOUSBut many customers paying for up to 20Mb are receiving speeds of just 5Mb or even slower: less than 25% of the promised headline speed. And, despite the increasingly ambitious claims made by some ISPs, the broadband speeds actually being delivered to customers just aren't keeping up.Consumers pay more for faster connections because they want to download more and faster, watch HD content online, play games with immediate reactions, and all at the same time.But the chances of getting 20Mb broadband from most DSL providers are, quite often, zero.It's about time that ISPs came clean about the speeds they are actually delivering.Old telephones lines, on which many internet services are run, are simply not able to support 20Mb speeds for most people.What the adverts don't make clear is that while you might enjoy fast connection speeds if your house is right next to your telephone exchange, it won't be anywhere near as fast if you live a few miles away.The result is that buying broadband can be more of a lucky dip than an informed choice.And only by examining the small print can you learn that the headline speeds are far from guaranteed, to be expected or even achievable.But it looks as if the public might soon get some protection. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which monitors the accuracy of adverts,Womens Puma Schumacher Shoes, has started an investiga-the way broadband packages are sold to the public.The ASA wants to see if there is a better way of letting the public know what they are actually going to get for their money.At Virgin Media, we don't tell people some theoretical maximum headline figure but the broadband speed they can expect to receive. Because we don't use old-fashioned phone lines but instead use a next generation fibre optic cable network, many of our customers already get 100% of the headline speed they buy from us and most of our customers get at least 90%, even at the busiest times.And we are continuing to invest in our network so we can deliver more of what you are paying for - whether on 10Mb, 20Mb, 50Mb or our soon to launch 100Mb broadband service.The ASA's intervention is good news for the consumer.It will also be good for the country as a whole.The lack of transparency over broadband speeds is in danger of becoming a damaging brake on our economy.Broadband is fast becoming as vital for future prosperity as canals and railways once were in the 19th century.It allows knowledge to be shared and connections made, driving innovation, enabling business to grow and attracting firms to set up here.That's why it is so worrying that the UK is ranked just 33rd in the world in terms of broadband speeds.INCENTIVEBut if customers are already paying over the odds for the slow speeds they're getting,www.pumasneakersonsale.com, why should they pay even more money for the next generation of broadband services? And if ISPs can get away with keeping customers in the dark about the speeds they actually provide, there is little incentive for companies to invest in their networks and improve them. The UK deserves better. At Virgin Media, we are proud to be playing our part in driving up broadband speeds and bringing ultrafast broadband to homes across the UK.And if the ASA can make it easier for people to know exactly what they are getting when it comes to broadband speeds, then that is all the better for the consumer and for our economy. Whether it is the drink we order, the post we receive or the speed of our broadband connection at home, we all have a right to know what we pay for is what we get.A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO INTERNETIsps - INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS The company which provides your broadband service.Dsl Broadband - DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE Delivered through existing copper telephone wires. The UK's most common form of DSL, ADSL (Asymmetric DSL) splits a telephone line into separate voice and data channels, letting you make a phone call and surf the Internet at the same time. FIBRE OPTIC BROADBAND Delivered through glass optical fibres, designed to send vast amounts of information at the speed of light.Mb Or Mbps - MEGABITS PER SECOND This is the broadband speed you receive. Most ISPs offer speeds of up to 20Mb,asics nimbus 13. Faster speeds - so the more Mb per second - means you can do more online at the same time and faster such as downloading music, watching TV online, playing games or social networking.Up to 10Mb broadband lets you download a music track in four seconds. Up to 20Mb lets you download a track in two seconds. Up to 50Mb means you can download a track in one second.'Up To' Speeds ISPs use the term 'up to' because broadband speeds are affected by a number of things. For example, ADSL broadband slows down the further you live from the phone exchange and all broadband can be affected by the number of people online, the website you're visiting or the computer equipment you're using,Abercrombie & Fitch online.Local Loop Unbundling - LLU A term for a bit of the network through which you receive your broadband. The vast majority of 'local loops' are owned by BT, and LLU refers to the process which allows other ISPs to rent copper telephone lines from BT so they can install some of their own equipment and deliver their own broadband. Related articles:

• Mens Puma Cayman Ferrari Shoes Abercrombie and Fitch Polos Sir Paul Stephenson in
• Men's Ed Hardy Underwear Mens Puma Speed Cat Stab mum stalked
• asics kayano 18 www.pumadiscountshoes.com Solicitor gets caught st