The average broadband speed in the UK climbed by 10 per cent over the six months to May 2011, but consumers are still receiving only half of the advertised speeds, telecommunications regulator Ofcom said.

The regulator conducted 455 million performance tests in 1,767 homes, and found that the average broadband speed climbed from 6.2Mbps in November last year to 6.8Mbps in May this year. While, the ISPs were found advertising average speed at 15Mbps, the actual average speed was 8.2Mbps slower.

The widest difference in received and advertised broadband speeds was recorded with copper-based DSL phone lines, which are being used in around three-quarters of the UK homes.

In May, around 50 per cent of residential broadband subscribers were on packages with advertised speeds above 10mbps, as compared with merely 8 per cent in April 2009.

Speaking on the topic, Chris Williams from comparison site Simplifydigital. com said, “It’s important that providers do all they can to ensure subscribers get what they’re paying for.”

Williams added that jump in average broadband speed was encouraging, but the widened gap between the advertised and actual speed was equally dispiriting