broadband news

Advertising crackdown on UK broadband providers

Broadband providers have been advised to be more careful in their future marketing campaigns after the body that regulates advertising upheld complaints against two leading operators.

The latest case involves an advert for BT in which the provider claimed they offered the 'Best Performing Broadband', based on the results of a survey carried out by researchers Epitiro.

This prompted a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority by Virgin Media, who were unhappy that that BT's claim failed to make clear that the consumer survey only included ADSL broadband providers, and excluded cable ones like Virgin.

BT's defence - that most people would not know what 'ADSL broadband' meant - was rejected by the ASA, who thought that the majority would recognise it as a method of broadband delivery. The authority accepted an assurance from BT that they would qualify all future references to broadband superiority with the term ADSL.

Meanwhile, broadband provider TalkTalk found themselves in hot water with the ASA recently after they were pulled up over the cost of their 'free' broadband. Ten people complained when the operator's adverts failed to point out that free broadband is only available in certain parts of the country.

The Authority upheld the complaint, saying that any future TalkTalk campaigns should make clear that the deal is not available to all their customers. The ruling was part of a series of recent events that have seen the word 'free' all but banished from broadband-related advertising.

07/10/2008
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

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