Careful of the difference between megabits (Mb) and megabytes (MB). 1 bit = 8 bytes. In the telecomms world, most people use bits not bytes, but if Freeola are promising 3.5MB (megabytes) per second then that corresponds to 0.438Mb (megabits) per second, or 438Kbps.
I would have thought, however, that unless they're pulling a fast one, all speeds should be quoted in bits per second.
The speed to open a web page depends not only on your broadband speed, but what the contention is (how many other people you're effectively sharing the line with, which for cheap providers is usually quite a few), plus the latency of the connection (how long it takes for the data to get from one end to the other, effectively). However, I'm sure somebody else will have a better answer because I've not really followed all this for a while.
I use Zen, costing a bit more than most providers, because I know the speed is good, it's reliable, and the customer service is top notch. I reckon you get what you pay for with broadband.
