“ As a person who has been involved with digital communications since 1989 I sometimes despair of the way broadband is advertised, spoken about and sold in the UK. Superfast broadband DOES NOT EXIST via phone lines (i.e., DSL) Copper telephone wire cannot provide the speed of down and (most importantly) upload information for "super fast" connections. It requires FIBRE OPTIC to do that. Not fibre optic add-ons as BT and TalkTalk provide, but fibre optic cable laid down from provider to customer.
Presently only Virgin Media offers this and it is very expensive to provide, not to mention the hassle they have to have with the various local authorities to dig up all the pavements to lay down this cable. I am not trying to advertise for Virgin Media, they are run on a shoe string like the other providers. But it did surprise me that, up in the back of Wales, I had the best, fastest and most reliable broadband I have had since I left the US, and, upon moving to the centre of London, I was stuck with the hugely expensive, very slow "super fast" TalkTalk DSL connection. And there is no other choice. London authorities do not want more roads dug up. And the other providers pretend their broadband is "fibre optic" and charge extra! It is truly a case of false advertising. Trouble is most consumers do not understand how they are being conned. Even trading standards do not understand the technicalities. Do not talk to BT - they do not offer Superfast broadband. ”