Broadband advertising codes demanded by consumer panel
January 3, 2008
The Ofcom consumer panel, which looks out for the best interest of the consumer, has asked the communications regulator to introduce a standard mandatory code of practice to be used in broadband advertising across the UK. This comes after raging controversy over broadband speeds that are advertised by providers and actual broadband speeds that are received by those signing up with the provider, which can be very different to those advertised depending on a number of factors.
A number of recent reports have shown the huge differences between the broadband speeds that most providers advertise and the actual speeds that most consumers on that package end up receiving, and this is where greater transparency is needed according to the consumer panel. For example, some broadband providers advertise packages with speeds of 10MB, but in fact the majority of consumers on that package may only receive a maximum of 3MB.
There are a number of factors that can affect the actual speed that the consumers gets, despite the speeds advertised. This includes the quality of the consumer’s phone line, and how close the consumer lives to the telephone exchange. However, many people signing up to broadband do not realise this and assume that they will definitely get the speed that has been advertised.
As part of the code the consumer panel wants broadband providers to explain to consumers that they may not get the speed that was advertised and explain the reasons why. They also want consumers to be told the actual speed they are likely to get based on their circumstances, and want them to be able to pull out of the contract without penalty if the speed is much lower than they expected it to be.
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