NTL misled consumers by advertising broadband services that
provided internet access at much slower rates than the public would
expect, according to a decision by the Advertising Standards
Authority, following a complaint by Freeserve.
An NTL press advert was headlined "High Speed Broadband Internet
only £14.99 a month."
Freeserve and a member of the public complained to the ASA. They
argued that broadband services are those with a speed rating of
above 500kbps, whereas the advertised service was only
128kbps.
NTL pointed out that OFTEL and the DTI defined broadband as "higher
bandwidth always-on services, offering data rates of 128 kbps and
above." The company added that the technical definition of
broadband, as used by physicists, was "a system where a signal was
carried over a wide band of frequencies"; NTL's service was
transmitted in a 6 MHz channel, which was a broad frequency band,
making it a broadband service within the technical definition.
The ASA acknowledged NTL's defences; but, because the ASA
considered that most consumers would understand broadband to mean a
service offering upwards of 500 kbps, the Authority concluded that
the claim "broadband", without qualification, was likely to
mislead.
NTL has agreed to remove the claim "High Speed" from future
adverts. The ASA has asked the company also to include a prominent
reference to the speed of the service.
