The problems many encounter with their internet speed may be due to the way broadband providers are advertising their service, it has been stated.

Chris Marling, the editor of the free-to-use independent comparison website Broadband Genie, said that it boils down to a very basic way of pitching sales.

He said that internet service providers "advertise them as 'up to' speeds, so it would be unfair to call it misleading […] because what the companies have been saying in advertising is that you will get up to a certain speed".

Despite this, Mr Marling explained that many people do not take into account how peak internet use times can drastically reduce the performance of a connection, likely impacting on the productivity of many small businesses in IT.

This week, Broadband Genie revealed that of the top eight broadband suppliers across the UK, the average return on the advertised speed was just 45.8 per cent, with Virgin Media returning the most consistently speedy service.

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.