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Ofcom, the toothless UK government quango, has admitted that ISPs are routinely flouting its Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds.

Under the terms of the code - which came into effect in December 2008 - ISPs are meant to provide customers with an estimate of their maximum line speed at the point of purchase.

However, a mystery shopping exercise conducted by the regulator shows that ISPs are often failing to volunteer the information. Eighty five per cent of Ofcom's mystery shoppers were provided with an estimate of their line speed, but the shoppers had to prompt the salesperson in 42% of those cases, which means less than half of broadband providers are volunteering the required information.

Typically, Ofcom has declined to name and shame the ISPs that are failing to live up to their obligations.

Even when providers are delivering estimates, they are often so vague as to be useless. Some ISPs offered expected line speeds in the form of a range of between 10Mbits/sec and 20Mbits/sec, giving consumers little clue about the actual speed they could expect to receive.

Estimates also vary from ISP to ISP, because of the different methods used to estimate line speed. On one particular line, Ofcom's mystery shopper was given four different estimates from four different providers, ranging from 8.5Mbits/sec to 20Mbits/sec.

Tightening the code?

Ofcom said when it launched the code in 2008 that it would be made mandatory if ISPs flouted the rules. Yet, today Ofcom is merely repeating the threat to introduce formal regulation.

When asked why the regulator continued to dither over a mandatory code, an Ofcom spokesperson said: "We did some smaller mystery shopping earlier in the year, and this [set of results] is a vast improvement on then." She added that formal regulation would take "a long time".

Instead, Ofcom said it plans to tighten the Voluntary Code of Practice by requiring ISPs to give the line speed estimate "early in the sales process". It will also work with ISPs to find a "consistent and accurate way" to estimate line speeds.

Cancelling contracts

Ofcom has also said that it plans to "explore with ISPs whether it would be appropriate" for consumers to cancel their contracts if actual speeds are "significantly below" the estimates.

This was part of the original Broadband Code of Conduct proposed by the Ofcom Consumer Panel back in December 2007, but didn't make it into the final agreement following protest from ISPs.

Ofcom's spokesperson said ISPs were now "more willing" to consider freeing customers from contracts.