Measuring the Information Society 2011 Box 3.3: Fast, faster, the fastest: differences in broadband speeds, prices and data caps The fixed-broadband sub-basket is based on an entry-level plan that offers a minimum speed of 256 kbit/s. While this standard measure is necessary to be able to compare prices across countries, there are major differences between countries and the advertised speeds in the 165 countries included in the IPB 2010 vary from the minimum of 256 kbit/s in the majority of countries, to 8 Mbit/s in Austria and France, 30 Mbit/s in Monaco and 50 Mbit/s in the Republic of Korea (see Table Box 3.3). This shows that there are major differences not only in the price for a basic fixed-broadband service, but also in terms of speed and quality. Users in different countries will not share the same online experience, since the speed of the connection will have a major impact on download times, as well as on the quality of the experience. A comparison of monthly caps that limit the amount of data that can be transferred within one month shows that, while many operators offer unlimited plans, others limit the amount of free data per month, which means that subscribers have to pay for data downloads that exceed this amount. In addition to the difference in available speeds, the actual speeds at which customers are able to download data vary and can differ substantially from the speeds advertised by operators. A recent study by Ofcom, the UK regulatory au-thority, showed that “Average download speeds remain less than half of ‘up to’ speeds advertised by some Internet service providers (ISPs), particularly for current generation copper-based ADSL services”.25 The actual speed that a broadband connec-tion delivers is affected by a number of factors, including how far away customers live from the telephone exchange, how many other people in the same area are using the same service at the same time, internal wiring and even the weather.26 This highlights the need for regulators to carry out surveys and set standards in terms of broadband quality of service and speed. Table Box 3.3: Fixed-broadband Internet prices, caps and speeds, 2010, selected economies Country Fixed-broadband Fixed-broadband Fixed-broadband Internet speed (Mbit/s) monthly subscriptions (USD) Internet monthly cap (GB) India 5.5 1 0.256 Syria 21.6 3 0.256 South Africa 27.4 2 0.384 Pakistan 14.2 Unlimited 1 Australia 36.9 2 1.5 Belgium 24.8 15 3 Austria 26.2 Unlimited 8 France 30.1 Unlimited 8 Japan 23.1 Unlimited 12 Portugal 26.3 30 12 Monaco 45.9 Unlimited 30 Korea (Rep.) 24.0 40 50 Note: These fixed-broadband services refer to the entry-level subscriptions that ITU used in the 2010 IPB. Source: ITU. $ # ( + % % $3\" , ( (\"( $ $ ((\"( % % $ =-60)0>) K, # 6$ , ( + % % $ ( $ # C% ;,$ ( 7/3% ; + ) * , \"G \"=( >,% % $ )7,/ 1C% ;=# )7/, )7C% ;>, $ $ % ( ( + # ( $ ( $ + +(\"( $ , ( %) Fixed-broadband prices: the regional and development-level perspective * (\"(86 % % ( 6 $ $ \" , ( ( ( \" $ $ )- 1 ,86 % % $ # %+7)$ 75