BT holds top spot for internet performance

Epitiro's Q1 2007 Internet Performance Indicator Report placed BT in the top spot again

BT offers the best customer experience when it comes to broadband, according to the latest round of performance tests. 

The Q1 2007 Internet Performance Indicator Report from Epitiro placed BT in the top spot for the fourth consecutive quarter. 

Demon came second, while AOL made its first return to the top five since the third quarter of 2006. 

Pipex swapped places with Demon, moving from second to fourth, while TalkTalk entered the table for the first time. 

"In terms of technical performance, BT, Demon and Pipex are consistently maintaining their presence in the top five," said Gavin Johns, managing director of Epitiro.

The study looked at the 10 largest competing consumer ADSL broadband providers, collecting 634,392 real-time data samples from 11 locations around the UK.

Epitiro said that BT offered the fastest FTP and HTTP download speeds, both cached and non-cached, which makes for quick web browsing.

Meanwhile, Pipex, TalkTalk and Demon had the joint-lowest packet loss rate.

"The industry average packet loss had almost halved since the last quarter, which is good news for users of video or audio streaming services," said the study.

TalkTalk had the lowest percentage of connection failures in the first quarter of 2007, suggesting that its consumer ADSL customers had the highest degree of uptime of the sample group.

BT provided the lowest ping time average, which is desirable for online gamers.

Despite slipping two places in the last quarter, Pipex hailed its top five placing as a success.

"We are delighted to feature in Epitiro's Internet Performance Indicator report for the third quarter running," said Dominic Crolla, managing director of Pipex's residential division.

"After 15 years in the industry, we have the experience and knowledge to provide an excellent service to customers."