Broadband News

Consumer watchdog calls for change to broadband advertising

Thursday, 02 September 2010

By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

Internet service providers should ditch their “up to” broadband speed advertising in favour of average speeds, according to the Communications Consumer Panel.

The telecoms watchdog called on new Culture Minister Ed Vaizey to look at the way that broadband providers advertise their download speeds.

“Advertising ‘up to’ speeds misleads and confuses people,” said the Panel, which has been campaigning for some time to get suppliers to provide “user-friendly” information about the speeds consumers are likely to get.

Anna Bradley, Panel chair, said: “Recent Ofcom research shows that the difference between advertised and promised speeds and actual speeds is actually growing.

“We do not think this is acceptable. Ofcom has introduced a new voluntary code of practice which commits ISPs to give consumers more accurate information on the speeds they should expect on their line and which allows consumers, in certain circumstances, to leave their provider if they get a lower speeds than they were led to expect.”

In a letter to Vaizy, she advised the minister that the best way to address the problem would be “to give customers a discount or allow them to move provider within contracted periods” if consumers are not getting the speeds they were told to expect.

“We believe ISPs should change their advertising practices in order to avoid the danger of misleading consumers,” concluded Bradley.