Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Advertising Standards (317 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Advertising Standards

UK Citizens Advice Accuses Broadband ISPs of False Price Promises

22nd July, 2015 (0 Comments)

The Citizens Advice agency has once again criticised the way in which some home broadband ISPs promote their services, such as via allegedly “hidden charges” like phone line rental, starter fees and router delivery costs.

UK Advertising Watchdog Slaps Virgin Media for Mid-Contract Price Hikes

22nd July, 2015 (2 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld two complaints against website adverts for Virgin Media’s cable broadband and phone deals, which they ruled were misleading due to the operator raising the cost above what they promoted and thus being in breach of Ofcom’s rules on mid-contract price hikes.

ASA UK Rules it Safe to Advertise Monthly Contracts as “No Contract”

8th July, 2015 (8 Comments)

When is a contract not a contract? A small but interesting ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority has cleared up a confusion over whether service providers should be allowed to promote short monthly (30 day) style contracts as “no contract” products.

Which? Report Slams Big UK Broadband ISPs for Misleading Service Speeds

18th June, 2015 (11 Comments)

Consumer magazine Which? has published a new report that attacks some of the biggest broadband ISPs, particularly BT, TalkTalk and PlusNet, for allegedly continuing to promote Internet download speeds that the majority of their customers will never be able to achieve. But are tougher advertising rules the best fix?

Sky Gets TalkTalk’s Misleading “Britain’s BEST DEALS” Broadband Ad Banned

3rd June, 2015 (0 Comments)

UK ISP Sky Broadband has successfully nudged the Advertising Standards Authority to ban a TalkTalk press advert, which was ultimately ruled to have misleadingly claimed to offer “Britain’s Best Deals on totally unlimited broadband packages“.

ASA Ban TalkTalk Broadband TV Ad for “Misleading” 99.9% Reliability Claim

6th May, 2015 (0 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a TV advert for TalkTalk’s unlimited broadband service after it misleadingly claimed to offer a “network connection that’s a whopping 99.9% reliable” and because it also failed to make clear that the offer was only available to new customers.

ASA Tells BT to Stop Using “Misleading” Fibre Broadband Availability Dates

22nd April, 2015 (9 Comments)

The on-going rollout of superfast capable “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) services across the UK by BT has hit a snag after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the revised estimated service availability dates, which BTOpenreach supply, were “likely to mislead consumers” because they were not based on a proper analysis.

Virgin Media’s “Misleading” Unlimited UK Mobile Data Claims Banned

1st April, 2015 (1 Comment)

The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that Virgin Media misled consumers by claiming that they could get “Unlimited data” (Mobile Broadband) on one of their mobile 3G SIM-Only tariffs, except that customers who exceeded 3.5GB of data in any 30-day period found that their speeds were throttled to just 384Kbps (0.38Mbps).

ASA UK Bans Sky Broadband’s 99.9% Core Network Reliability Claim

1st April, 2015 (0 Comments)

A complaint by Virgin Media has prompted the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to ban Sky Broadband’s apparently “misleading” claim of being able to offer “99.9% core network reliability“.

ASA UK Ban TalkTalk Broadband Ad After BT Moan of Misleading Sale Price

25th February, 2015 (8 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has sided with an interesting BT complaint against a press advert for TalkTalk’s SimplyBroadband package, which complained that a “half-price” offer of £1.75 per month was “not a genuine sale price” because the standard price of £3.50 had not been used for long enough.

UPD Sky Scores Small Victory in Ad Battle with BT Broadband’s Free Sport TV

7th January, 2015 (0 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld one part of a two part complaint made by Sky (Sky Broadband) against a website advert for BT Broadband’s free BTSport TV content, which was ruled “misleading” because it failed to sufficiently show that the cost of BTSport to Sky Digital (Satellite) customers would rise to £13.50 a month.

ASA UK Put the Advertising of Network Adapter Speeds Under a Spotlight

31st December, 2014 (29 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a website ad for ZyXEL’s PLA4201 500Mbps Mini Powerline Ethernet Adaptor after two people complained that the performance claims were “misleading“, not least because the adapter itself only offered a 100Mbps (RJ-45) capable Ethernet port. Admittedly this isn’t strictly ISP related, but it’s still interesting.

Top of the Worst – Annual Summary of UK ISP Advertising Complaints

29th December, 2014 (12 Comments)

Mirror.. mirror on the wall, which broadband ISP will suffer the most upheld advertising complaints of them all. As another year passes by, ISPreview.co.uk takes a quick look back to see how many complaints fixed line broadband providers garnered from the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and whether tougher action is needed to stop abuse.

Citizens Advice Demands Strong Rules to Stop Misleading Broadband Ads

24th December, 2014 (9 Comments)

The Citizens Advice agency has called on the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to toughen up its rules after the CA felt it necessary to lodge four complaints against adverts for broadband and phone bundles from BT, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and TalkTalk due to their allegedly “misleading” prices.

Relish’s Wireless Broadband Ads Banned for Misleading Price and Comparison

10th December, 2014 (5 Comments)

A press and website advert for Relish’s fixed wireless 4G broadband network in central London has been banned after BT successfully complained that their promotion used a “misleading” comparison with one of their own packages and also advertised an incorrect price for the ISPs business deal.

BT Complaint Exposes Virgin Media’s “Misleading” Savings Claims

10th December, 2014 (4 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned five national press adverts and a website promotion for Virgin Media’s (Liberty Global) cable broadband, TV and phone bundles after rival BT complained that the savings claims and offer expiry dates being used were misleading. But the ruling could have an impact on other big ISPs.

TalkTalk and BT in Comedy Squabble Over Promotional Rocket Graphics

5th December, 2014 (11 Comments)

Several weeks ago the Director of BT’s Superfast Broadband Programme in Cornwall, Ranulf Scarbrough, comically complained to us and others that TalkTalk had “stolen our rocket!“. At the time we chuckled and moved on from what appeared to be little more than a bit of comedy jesting between competitive foes in the ISP sector, but today it’s made the news.