TCA welcomes BT rap for misleading ads

Telco's adverts taken off air for the second time this month

Not up to speed: The TCA claims resellers are often left apologising for misleading claims from ISPs

Trade body the Technology Channels Association (TCA) has welcomed news that BT has been called up for misleading advertising of its 20Mbit/s broadband offering.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today delivered its verdict on TV, radio and print media adverts in which the telco claimed: "BT is rolling out broadband speeds of up to 20Mbit/s to deliver consistently faster broadband even at peak times."

A total of 17 complaints were received about the ads, with rivals Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin among those to object. Some questioned whether BT could substantiate claims its 20Mbit/s offering is consistently quicker than its 8Mbit/s broadband. Others claimed there would be no difference between the two when accessing a typical website.

Sky and TalkTalk suggested that BT "did not make clear ongoing restrictions on the availability of the 20 Mbit/s service".

Six of the seven issues raised were upheld by the ASA. BT's consistently faster assertion was deemed to be "categorical and therefore likely to lead consumers to expect that BT could demonstrate that that was the case in all instances".

The ASA added: "Because we had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim that BT's new broadband service was consistently faster than its existing 8 Mbit/s service even at peak times, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead."

This is the second time inside three weeks the ASA has rapped BT's knuckles. Earlier this month the telco was told to take ads promising "instant broadband" off the air.

Keith Warburton, chairman of the TCA, said misleading advertising often leaves resellers having to manage customers' expectations. He questioned why ISP advertising focuses so heavily on speed and price, rather than customer satisfaction.

"The channel spends too much time apologising for ISPs; it is ridiculous that all these theoretical speeds are quoted as the headline on virtually every broadband advert. It is completely misleading," he said.

"We have to be realistic. In the real world, most people do not live in a telephone exchange. Virtually nobody gets the advertised speed. We would like to see some responsible advertising."