Consumer magazine Which? UK has told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which is currently running a major consultation on proposals to change how broadband ISPs advertise their speeds (here), that it "is strongly in favour of retaining" the "UP TO" qualifier (e.g. "up to 24mb") used by most providers.

The move marks a stark contrast to last week's Communications Consumer Panel (CCP) submission (here), which effectively called for the "up to" description to be banned and replaced by a measurement of typical speed (e.g. "2 out of 3 people receive 5mb").

However, Which? also believes that "up to" is not sufficient alone to provide consumers with a realistic impression of the speeds they will receive. As a result they suggest that the "up to" qualifier should be both available to at least 10% of customers (option b) and be accompanied by a typical speed range (reflecting the range of realistically available speeds).


The magazine is also encouraging ISPs to inform consumers about factors that impact broadband speeds and their right to demand an estimate of the speed they are likely to receive at the point of sale. Many providers already do this and it is a requirement of Ofcom's voluntary Code of Practice for broadband speeds.

In related news the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has extended its digital remit to cover misleading promotions for products on an ISPs own website. The measures were first announced last September 2010 (here) but officially came into force today.