In towns and cities here, 20Meg is about the average that is offered as a "highest expected speed" by the larger companies (though speeds of 1-2Meg are offered by smaller Internet suppliers), most are now offering between 40 and 120 download speed at a premium. In the sticks, where there is little cable coverage and the user could be 10-20 miles from the nearest telephone exchange, speeds as low as 0.3Meg are still being passed off as "broadband".

I think that a differentiation needs to be made between "broadband" and "narrowband". Speeds over 40Meg can be advertised as "superfast broadband" here. That is confusing to say the least. They are talking about maximum download speed. As any Internet gamer knows, upload speed is just as important. We had 120Meg download speed last year but only a max of 5Meg upload. It did little to improve our Internet experience but did a lot to reduce our bank balance. We switched to 60Meg download and 20Meg upload and it is now far better.

It's no good having 10 Meg download if your upload speed is only 0.5Meg. Until recently, in general, we were used to only 10% of the download speed for uploading. The way they advertise is deliberately confusing, indeed misleading because they imply that all you need is download speed. Not true in most cases. Then there is the "fair usage" policy, where they cap your usage at peak periods. Sometimes down to dial-up speeds. That's another reason we switched - our current provider does not have a "fair use" policy and does not cap at peak periods (though Internet congestion can still affect us). Here, they call it "Totally Unlimited Broadband" as opposed to just "Unlimited Broadband".

And don't get me started on jitter and ping! Indicators of the quality of your connection, both have in the past made gaming impossible. My current provider is quite good though. It is affected, though, by the routing so is often beyond the control of your own ISP.

So sheer download speed is not the only thing to worry about. Unless your only interest is downloading videos, quality is every bit as important as quantity. Someone could offer 40Meg download but only guarantee 1Meg upload. Far more important would be the improvement of transmission lines and honest advertising.
...and make it 50gig

In your dreams LOL.

We ditched the cable TV (which was only a basic package because we don't watch much that is not "free to air") and negotiated to get a reduction of about £20 off our monthly bill for a faster all-round broadband service. I've never looked back since. The best way to negotiate, I've found, is - as long as your minimum contract period is up - threaten to leave and tell them about deals you've found with other suppliers. If they want to keep your custom, they should offer to at least match them.