I agree, this whole speed thing is a mess, and I would like it to be cleared up. Manufacturers used to quote ISO speeds (well, back then, it was ASA). Since the concept of EI became popular, the manufacturers seem to say 'oh good, we don't need to stick to the standards any more, and can quote whatever numbers we like'. In fact, perhaps it was the manufacturers who poularised EI in the first place?(posted 9323 days ago)There is an ISO speed definition for paper, and this is used (and quoted by Ilford!) for their Multigrade paper. I can't remember what the definition is, because it isn't important to me: in the darkroom, I use test strips rather than meters.
By the way, I rapped Ilford on this issue, but the other manufacturers are just as bad, and I do like Ilford films. Preliminary results suggest that I may prefer Delta 3200 to T-Max 3200.