Watchdog assesses broadband speed claims

Broadband providers maybe required to advertise the average rather than the top speed of their services, under new regulations being considered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The advertising watchdog is looking at whether businesses should be prevented from promoting their services by quoting broadband speeds that only the top 10 per cent of customers can access.

It comes at the same time when consumer group Which? is calling for an advertising ban on speed claims that can be obtained by fewer than half of the provider’s customers.

Which? said that 68 per cent of broadband providers used the speeds accessible to just 10 per cent of their customers in newspaper adverts placed between April 2015 and March of this year. It said this makes the adverts misleading to the vast majority of customers.

Alex Neill, the Which? director of policy and campaigns, told The Telegraph: “Speed is one of the most important factors when people are choosing a broadband deal and yet the advertised speeds are only available to a small minority of customers. This is confusing for customers and ultimately leads to dissatisfaction with their provider when people feel they have been let down.

“The advertising rules must be changed to stop broadband companies from advertising speeds they can't deliver to the majority of their customers."

The ASA said that since it introduced new guidance on broadband speed claims for advertisers in 2012, the number of complaints it had received from members of the public had fallen by 60 per cent.

However, the watchdog said that if its research identified that a different approach needs to be taken, it would “take appropriate action". The ASA said its full findings would be published in the autumn.

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