Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Advertising Standards (310 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Advertising Standards

BT and Sky Get Virgin Media UK Adverts Banned for “5x Faster” Claim

17th September, 2014 (4 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a TV, website and several press adverts for Virgin Media’s cable broadband service after rival ISPs, BT and Sky Broadband (BSkyB), complained that the promotions “misled” consumers by claiming the service offered Internet download speeds that were “5x faster than Sky and BT’s regular broadband“.

ASA UK Ban Misleading Primus Saver Unlimited Broadband Advert

21st August, 2014 (0 Comments)

Budget ISP Primus Saver (New Call Telecom), which recently scrapped some of their old packages due to low uptake (here and here), has had a website advert for their “Unlimited Broadband for just £2” service banned after one of their customers suffered a mid-contract price rise for both line rental and broadband.

The Forgotten Importance of Broadband Internet Upload Speeds

20th August, 2014 (60 Comments)

Hands up if your broadband ISP makes the upload (upstream) speed of your Internet package clear on their advertising? We thought not. Sadly only a few of the major ISPs even bother to advertise upload performance and those that do only tend to show it on certain products. But how fast you can push information into the online world does matter and its importance is growing.

Sky Gets UK Virgin Media Advert Banned for Misleading Bundle Comparison

13th August, 2014 (0 Comments)

A regional press advert for Virgin Media’s old cable broadband, phone and TV bundles (specifically the ‘Premiere Collection’) has been banned for being “misleading” by the Advertising Standards Authority after Sky (Sky Broadband) complained that the comparison with its rival ‘The Family Bundle’ was wrong.

BT TV Advert for UK “Fibre Optic Broadband” Banned for Illegible Text

13th August, 2014 (10 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a TV advert for BT’s superfast “fibre optic broadband” BTInfinity (FTTC) service after an individual complained that the second set of on-screen text, which contained several significant conditions, was not clearly legible.

Failure to Respond Gets Lycamobile UK Unlimited 4G Data Ad Banned

10th August, 2014 (2 Comments)

As predicted last month the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will next week ban a website advert for a Lycamobile service, which misleadingly claimed to offer “UNLIMITED 4G DATA“, after the operator failed to respond to the advertising watchdogs enquiries.

Lycamobile’s UK Unlimited 4G Mobile Broadband Data Advert Faces Ban

14th July, 2014 (8 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) looks set to ban an add-on service from Lycamobile, which perhaps misleadingly claimed to offer “UNLIMITED 4G DATA“, after the mobile operator failed to respond to the advertising watchdogs enquiries.

TalkTalk Ads Banned for Claiming to Offer Britain’s “lowest priced” Broadband

9th July, 2014 (4 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a mailing, website and press advert for TalkTalk after a member of the public and BT complained that the ISP was misleading the public by claiming to offer “Britain’s lowest priced” totally unlimited broadband service in all three promotions.

ASA Ban BT Advert for Claiming Sky Would Switch-Off O2 Broadband Users

9th July, 2014 (5 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a BT direct mailing advert, which Sky Broadband claimed had mislead recipients of the promotion because it implied that Sky would “switch off” O2’s old fixed line home broadband service in April 2014 (i.e. suggesting that customers might be left stranded).

ASA Uphold TalkTalk Complaint Against Misleading BT Sport TV Advert

11th June, 2014 (6 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint by TalkTalk and several others against a TV advert for BT’s Sport service, which failed to make sufficiently clear that it wasn’t free to business customers or that it was only available to view online, unless customers also had access to Sky Digital or BT TV with superfast broadband via BTInfinity.

UPDATE ASA UK Ban EE “Most Reliable Broadband” Claim After BT Moan

21st May, 2014 (24 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a direct mailing advert for EE’s Home Broadband service after rival ISP BT complained that the promotions claim to offer “Britain’s most reliable broadband for staying connected” was misleading. But BT had less luck getting a promo for the ISPs BrightBox2 router taken down.

Virgin Media UK Direct Mailing Advert Banned by ASA After Sky Complaint

30th April, 2014 (4 Comments)

A series of complaints by Sky (Sky Broadband) has caused the Advertising Standards Authority to ban a direct mailing promotion for Virgin Media’s broadband, TV and phone bundles, which omitted material information regarding the differences between the two services and failed to make adequately clear the basis of a £214.95 savings claim.

O2 Travel Adverts Banned for Omitting 15MB Mobile Internet Data Cap

30th April, 2014 (0 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has once again had to ban two adverts for O2’s mobile Internet data roaming tariff (O2 Travel) after it claimed to offer “a day’s data for £1.99 … whatever you get up to on the continent“, which failed to mention the small matter of a 15MB usage cap.

Lycamobile’s Unlimited UK 4G Mobile Broadband Comes with Restrictions

9th April, 2014 (15 Comments)

Mobile operator Lycamobile, which uses O2’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) platform, has launched a new 4G based top-up (UK Plan 12) that claims to offer 500 UK minutes with “unlimited” texts and data for just £12. Sounds good, until your connection gets throttled back to almost dialup speeds.

Confusion as ASA Ban Gigaclear’s Absolute FTTP Broadband Speed Claims

5th March, 2014 (15 Comments)

Sometimes rulings by the Advertising Standards Authority can seem a little overzealous and their latest decision to stop rural fibre optic broadband ISP Gigaclear from advertising absolute Internet speeds (e.g. 1000Mbps without the notorious “up to” prefix) on their website might just stray into that territory. Hyperoptic, B4RN and Gigler take note.

ASA Ban Misleading Unlimited Broadband Claims on UK Satellite ISP Avonline

5th February, 2014 (4 Comments)

It’s well known that Satellite ISPs can place strict Traffic Management style measures on their Internet access services and now the Advertising Standards Authority has stepped in to stop one provider, Avonline Broadband, from promoting the products alongside “UNLIMITED” usage claims on their website. Other providers take heed.

Virgin Media Direct Mailing Advert Banned for Misleading Half Price Offer

22nd January, 2014 (2 Comments)

Cable operator Virgin Media has had one of its Direct Mailing (booklet) adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after it failed to make immediately clear that the half price offer it was peddling didn’t apply to the cost of line rental.