BT Advert Banned for Misleading UK Broadband Speed Guarantee

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a website advert for BT’s broadband ISP packages – seen during December 2020 – after they “misleadingly” presented their “Stay Fast Guarantee” on packages as a guaranteed minimum speed for the package, when that was not actually the case.

The issue here reflects the packages that BT shows to all visitors on their public broadband deals page. The complaint itself focused on their “Fibre 2” (FTTC / VDSL2) package, which at the time was being promoted alongside a download speed range of “65Mb – 73Mb“, while the text underneath stated “Your Stay Fast Guarantee 60Mb.”

Crucially, the Stay Fast Guarantee does not actually guarantee the speed it states as a minimum, but rather offers the promise of £20 compensation if the speed drops below that level. BT’s page included a link directly below the “guarantee” to explain all this and clarified it was an estimate of speed, which would vary by line (i.e. as required by Ofcom, customers get a more accurate personal estimate of speed when inputting their address).

Nevertheless, the complainant, who was an existing BT customer and understood that their own internet speed was significantly slower than 60Mbps, challenged whether the claim “Your Stay Fast Guarantee 60Mb” was misleading. The ASA ultimately upheld the complaint, although it’s all quite finely balanced on a few key points of detail, which some may consider to be debatable.

ASA Ruling (A21-1109653 British Telecommunications plc)

We noted that the speed was referred to as a ‘guarantee’, and we considered that guarantees were typically associated with offering certainty. Consumers were therefore likely to understand that the speed alongside the “Your Stay Fast Guarantee” claim was specific to them and offering an assurance of that speed, rather than an estimate. In that context, we considered the claim “Your Stay Fast Guarantee” would be interpreted as the minimum broadband speed that BT would commit to provide to the consumer’s address during their contract.

We acknowledged that as signatories to Ofcom’s Voluntary Codes of Practice on Broadband Speed, BT were required to provide a ‘minimum guaranteed speed’, ensuring that customers were aware of their right to exit their contract if speeds fell below that minimum level. We understood the claim “Your Stay Fast Guarantee” was a reference to that. We acknowledged that information explaining that guarantee was available when consumers clicked on a link, labelled “What these speed estimates mean for you”. However, that information was not shown in the main body of the ad and we considered it was possible for consumers to choose a broadband deal without necessarily seeing that information. Furthermore, although the labelling of the link referred to a speed “estimate” in the main body of the ad, we noted that the text stated “It’s important to know that the speed ranges we show are an estimate”, and we considered consumers would understand that as a reference specifically to where speed ranges, rather than specific speeds, were given.

We understood that the broadband speed alongside the “Your Stay Fast Guarantee” referred to a broadband speed a customer could expect, based on an estimate using information from homes similar to theirs. We understood that after a customer had made an enquiry about a broadband deal, but before they signed up to the service, BT would undertake further property-specific checks, following which it was possible for the initial “Your Stay Fast Guarantee” to be revised. We understood it was the latter speed which would be used as the minimum speed BT were required to offer as part of Ofcom’s Voluntary Codes of Practice. The speed given in the ad was therefore not an actual minimum guaranteed speed, but an estimate of that speed, which was subject to revision, and not one on which consumers could necessarily rely to leave their contract without penalty.

Because the stated speed was likely to be seen as a guaranteed minimum speed specific to the entered address, and because that was not the case, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

As usual the ASA banned the website advert in its current form and told BT to ensure that their ads “did not present the “Your Stay Fast Guarantee” speed as a guarantee, if it was in fact an estimate of one.” We note that these days you can’t even see BT’s broadband deals without first entering your address, which means that everybody should get a more accurate personal estimate by default.

On top of that, the ISP has also significantly reduced the promoted guaranteed speeds on some of their packages (e.g. even on their 74Mbps Full Fibre 2 package the Stay Fast Guarantee comes out at around 34Mbps), which may be enough to keep them within the ASA’s good books. But it might also create some consumer confusion with their slower tiers (e.g. Full Fibre 1 that advertises a 50Mbps speed).

We think it might have been easier just to stop calling it a “guarantee” in the first place.