Broadband firms may be forced to show average speeds in adverts

BROADBAND companies could be forced to advertise average speeds rather than top speeds as part of changes being planned by the advertising watchdog.

Some advertised broadband speeds could shrink by 25 per cent overnight if the Advertising Standards Authority bans companies from quoting speeds received only by the top 10 per cent of customers. The ASA has confirmed that it is in the early stages of reviewing its “top 10 per cent rule” and is considering forcing companies to increase the proportion of people included in their “up to” advertised rates.

Which?, the consumer group, is calling on the ASA to ban any claims about speeds that are received by less than half of customers. It claims the rule allows brands to advertise attractive high speeds which are misleading an estimated 84 per cent of consumers.

For example, Plusnet’s “up to” 76 Mbit/s fibre broadband package is about 25 per cent slower for the average customer, who receives a speed of 56.4 Mbit/s, according to a report by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator.

Top 10 per cent speed claims were made by 68 per cent of broadband providers’ newspaper advertisements between April 2015 and March 2016, re- search by Which? found. The change could form part of the ASA’s investigation into broadband advertisements, where it is feared that millions of customers are being tricked into buying a more expensive deal than they need. In January the ASA published research which found that the way prices are presented is confusing and misleading.

Alex Neill, Which? director of policy and campaigns, said: “Speed is one of the most important factors when people are choosing a broadband deal and

25 per cent The amount that advertised broadband speeds could shrink by, if companies are banned from quoting the top performance

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.”

A spokesman for the advertising authority said: “Complaints to the ASA about broadband speed claims have fallen by 60 per cent since the introduction of … guidance in 2012 that required advertisers to use the ‘up to’ claim to make them more meaningful than the unqualified top speed claims some of them were making previously.

“Nonetheless, if the findings of our research show there’s a need for a different approach then we’ll take appropriate action. Our findings will be published in the autumn.”