Most subscribers to broadband connections in the UK are disappointed with the speed of their connections, one industry expert has claimed.

Michael Phillips, product director at online advisory service Broadband Choices, accused providers of deliberately misleading consumers over the actual speeds that high-speed connections can attain.

His comments echoed a recent warning from Ofcom that accused internet service providers (ISPs) of placing undue focus on the maximum potential speed of broadband connections, rather than informing users that actual attainable speeds can be as little as a quarter of the advertised capability.

"There is a problem with how speeds are being represented to customers at the point at which they sign up for the packages," Mr Phillips said.

Various factors such as network grid capacity and ISP traffic can affect the speed of broadband connections, while slower ADSL lines are vulnerable to even more variables such as the distance from the local telephone network exchange.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'.