UK ISPs React to Average Broadband Speeds in Advertising Requirement

Yesterday the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) revealed new guidance (here), which from 23rd May 2018 will require all broadband ISPs to advertise “average” speeds (a median measured at peak time) for their packages. Today we’ve published some thoughts from a cross section of providers.

Broadly speaking the industry appears to support the change, although there were one or two dissenting voices that highlighted a few of the potential problems with using an average for such connectivity. However the biggest challenge will be in ensuring that all ISPs adopt the new guidance.

Sadly there are still quite a few smaller providers, such as Satellite ISPs, that even today seem to ignore the existing 10% rule and they’ll probably do the same with average speeds too. The ASA’s guidance appears to be technology neutral and so such providers should really be adopting the same measure.

A Virgin Media Spokesperson said:

“Virgin Media is pleased the ASA are making sure consumers get some long overdue clarity. That’s why we have repeatedly called for a change in these unfair and misleading advertising rules. At last, the majority of customers will now know what speeds they can realistically expect from their broadband provider, not just a small minority.”

Adrian Kennard, MD of AAISP, said:

“We are concerned that this change fails to address the fundamental issue that advertising does not convey clearly the different types of technology available – which is mostly what matters. A better approach would be industry standard terms for each of the (very few) key technologies rather than speed headlines.

When all VDSL/FTTC was advertised as “up to 80M”, customers could see that two ISPs offering VDSL packages advertised as “up to 80M” were basically the same speed and so compare on other factors. i.e. they may only get 50M where they live but that is true for either of those ISPs offering “up to 80M” VDSL/FTTC.

Now we will potentially see a wide range of speeds based on clever marketing. E.g. an ISP that sells 40/10, 55/15, and 80/20 VDSL can advertise the 80/20 based on the median of those customers 55 to 80M (i.e. ignoring those that cannot get 55M because they will be on the 55/15 package). Other ISPs that maybe don’t offer the 55/15 will have to have median of lines 40 to 80M, so lower.

A customer might assume one ISP is way better than the other even though the sync speed will be the same regardless as the same VDSL on the same line to the same modem in the same cabinet. So this causes more customer confusion rather than adding clarity.

It also guarantees that 50% of customers will be disappointed still, and 50% will be puzzled.”

A TalkTalk Spokesperson said:

“We support the ASA efforts to simplify broadband advertising. Whilst average speeds are a useful guide, what customers really want is a guaranteed speed specific to their home. We already provide that at the point of sale, meaning customers can be certain about the speeds they will receive before they buy the product.”

Martin Pitt, MD of Aquiss, said:

“We are still in the process of absorbing the new requirements and the continued chopping and changing that the ASA seems to deploy on the industry, following their previous failed attempts to dumb the industry down. With respect to the ASA, the general public are not stupid, though I have to question the same of the ASA.

Naturally we will implement the required changes in the coming months, however for the first time, as a business, we need to consider if introducing a lower threshold, acceptance level, will allow us to maintain a competitive market position alongside other providers who already have such thresholds. The selling of ADSL services hardly looks tempting at all, given the lower “averages” that are already seen within this technology portfolio.”

Simon Davies, Director of iDNET, said:

“This together with the introduction of one-month contracts for fibre broadband (that is coming from 15th January) is excellent news for consumers as they will be able to simply and quickly move to a provider who does not massively over-subscribe their network, which is the major cause of peak-time slowdowns.”

A Spokesperson for Vodafone said:

“We welcome the decision from the ASA and have been actively involved in the consultation to ensure better clarity for consumers around broadband speeds. We’ll be working to meet the deadline accordingly.”

Andrew Glover, ISPA UK Chair, said:

“ISPA supports today’s change to rules governing the advertising of broadband speeds as an important way of providing consumers with clear and accurate information. The new rules, alongside existing steps of providing speed information at point of sale, the ability to exit a contract and switching, mean consumers have a number of tools at their disposal to make an informed choice about which ISP or broadband service is right for them.”

Sadly BT has not responded to our hails and Sky Broadband weren’t able to provide a comment before we published (they have promised one), while BT sibling Plusnet responded.. but only to confirm that they were declining to comment.

In our view one mistake that the ASA made was to overlook upload speeds, which are a key component of any broadband package and can vary significantly between different connections and product tiers (e.g. a 40Mbps capable FTTC line may adopt either a 2Mbps or 10Mbps profile). The watchdog said they would consider uploads on a “case-by-case basis,” which is akin to sweeping them under the carpet.

All ISPs should be required to show their upload speeds in the package details because it is a material part of the service. Half the time you cannot even find the speed mentioned in the small print and some providers don’t show it during the order process either. However, on a positive note, smaller ISPs are much more transparent about their upload performance than bigger ones.