In a response to BT’s comments that ISPs need to do more to make it clear when selling “up to 8Mb” broadband, Tiscali I think have got a hold of the wrong end of the stick - probably on purpose.

Tiscali’s PR person, Jody Haskayne is quoted as saying “I think the point is that most of the major isps are doing very similar things in terms of marketing.” This comment is of course true. However, firstly, I’m not entirely sure if this practice or comment justifies misleading customers and secondly, if this is even what BT means by ISPs “doing more.”

I think BT are trying to make the point to the ISPs that if you don’t over sell your broadband, then you won’t have problems with your “up to 8Mb” broadband services. It appears to me that lots of factors are blamed for poor broadband - most of which are only in a very rare number of cases. Bad equipment, interference, distance from the exchange. Of course these things do play a part in how fast your broadband will be, but I don’t believe for a second that good old congestion isn’t the real issue with the vast majority of customers. If it wasn’t down to congestion then why after people swap service provider to somebody else (that is usually more expensive) all of a sudden they magically get a usable broadband service? Look on any of the broadband forums and you’ll see story upon story of woe turned to joy once users have moved from the cheap broadband providers to the more expensive ones. [SHOW ME]