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Articles for Category Tag - Advertising Standards

Get Ready for Average Speeds in UK Broadband ISP Advertising

30th April, 2018 (37 Comments)

Tomorrow marks the first day of May and it will be an important month for broadband providers in the United Kingdom, not least because a new rule will be enforced, which requires them to start promoting “average speeds” (a median measured at peak time – 8pm to 10pm) for their public packages.

Utility Warehouse Ad Banned for Misleading Best Value Mobile Claim

10th April, 2018 (4 Comments)

Phone, broadband ISP and UK energy provider Utility Warehouse have had a website advert for their service pulled after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that it had misleadingly promoted itself as offering “the UK’s best value mobile“.

BT Get Sky Broadband ISP Advert Banned Over Misleading Prices Claim

21st March, 2018 (11 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a national UK press advert for Sky Broadband after rival ISP BT complained that the promotion’s claim of offering “Unlimited Broadband At Our Best Prices” was “misleading,” not least because they’d recently offered the same package for less.

Cityfibre Take Ads Watchdog to Court Over Fibre Broadband Promos

5th March, 2018 (64 Comments)

Fibre optic network builder Cityfibre has filed for a Judicial Review of last year’s decision by the UK Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled that it was “not materially misleading” for ISPs to describe slower hybrid fibre services (e.g. FTTC / HFC DOCSIS) as “fibre broadband.”

BT Get Three UK’s Ads Banned for Misleading Mobile Spectrum Campaign

8th February, 2018 (3 Comments)

A quirky 2016 advertising campaign by Three UK, which called upon Ofcom’s CEO to “Make the Air Fair” by imposing a mobile spectrum ownership cap of 30% that would have hit EE (BT) and Vodafone, has been banned after the Advertising Standards Authority branded it “misleading.”

A Look at How Other Countries Advertise Broadband ISP Speeds vs UK

2nd January, 2018 (14 Comments)

Over the past couple of years there’s been a ferocious debate in the United Kingdom over the question of how fixed line broadband providers should advertise their service speeds and this got us to thinking, how do other countries advertise line speeds? Let’s take a look.

UK ISPs React to Average Broadband Speeds in Advertising Requirement

24th November, 2017 (21 Comments)

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.

UPDATE ASA Rule UK Fibre Broadband ISP Adverts for Part Fibre Do NOT Mislead

23rd November, 2017 (33 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today determined that it is “not materially misleading” to describe broadband services that use fibre optic cables for only part of the connection to consumers’ homes (e.g. FTTC) as “fibre broadband“, much to the annoyance of UK MPs and critics.

ASA Forces UK Broadband ISPs to Advertise AVERAGE Peak Time Speeds

23rd November, 2017 (8 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority has today given notice to Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the United Kingdom that, with effect from 23rd May 2018, they will expect all broadband ISPs to advertise “average” speeds (the median measured at peak time) for their headline packages.

BT Broadband TV Advert Banned Over Difficult to Read Small Print

22nd November, 2017 (5 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority has told UK ISP BT not to re-run one of their TV adverts for broadband connectivity, which occurred because some of the on-screen text that accompanied their promotion was found to be “not sufficiently legible.“

Which? Claim UK ISPs Could Overestimate Broadband Speeds by up to 62%

15th November, 2017 (14 Comments)

A new study from consumer magazine Which? has used data taken from over 700,000 speed tests conducted by Speedchecker Ltd (between January and March 2017) to claim that broadband ISPs could be overestimating their service speeds by up to 62%. Save for a few BIG caveats.

ASA Forces UK Business ISPs to Include Line Rental Costs into Broadband

15th November, 2017 (0 Comments)

A new ruling against Plusnet by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) means that UK business ISPs will now also need to combine the price of phone line rental and broadband when advertising related packages, which is a rule that has previously only applied to residential services.

Tom Hardy Sky Mobile TV Advert Banned for Misleading “free of charge” Claim

25th October, 2017 (0 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a TV advert for the Sky Mobile service, which featured film actor Tom Hardy, because it was deemed to have misleadingly claimed that customers could swap their old phone for the latest one every 12 months “free of charge“.

Which? Claim Half of UK Households Suffered Broadband Problems in 2017

21st October, 2017 (20 Comments)

A survey of 1,709 UK telecoms customers in June to July 2017, which was conducted by Which?, found that 53% had experienced a “problem with their broadband” in the last year. Sadly customers of Virgin Media (61%), TalkTalk (60%), Sky Broadband (56%) and BT (54%) were “most likely” to suffer.

Hyperoptic 1Gbps Broadband Advert Banned for Looking Like a BT Letter

18th October, 2017 (42 Comments)

Fibre optic ISP Hyperoptic, which supplies up to 1Gbps FTTP/B broadband services to large buildings in many UK urban areas, has had one of its circular adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) because the promotion looked too much like an official communication from BT.

ASA Ban Confusingly Priced Advert for Lycamobile’s 15GB Mobile Data Plan

21st September, 2017 (4 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has once again banned an advert for Lycamobile‘s service after they failed to make the duration of their special offer pricing clear on a website promotion for the “UK ULTRA PLAN” (15GB Data, Unlimited Mins and Texts).

AAISP Pokes Fun at Sky Broadband’s 55Mbps “Minimum Speed Guarantee”

18th September, 2017 (11 Comments)

Internet provider Andrews & Arnold (AAISP) has attempted to spoof modern advertising practices and Sky Broadband’s recent offer of a 55Mbps “Minimum Speed Guarantee” by proposing to go one further with a 56Mbps guarantee. Naturally they’re quick to explain the caveats.