Ofcom says 'up to' broadband speed claims can "mislead"

Ofcom said  ‘up to' broadband speed claims have little meaning as the gap between speeds advertised and what customers get continues to widen.

The regulator has now urged the committees of advertising practice, Cap and BCap, to change their guidelines so people are not misled.

Ofcom's latest fixed broadband report into broadband speeds shows that overall broadband speeds have risen by 10 per cent over the last six months. But despite this many people are still not receiving anything near claimed ‘up to' speeds because their service is delivered by ADSL.

It said that three-quarters (75 per cent) of broadband is delivered this way and the speeds available to different customers varied significantly. This is because of technical issues involved with using the copper telephone lines, such as length of line from the exchange.

"Headline 'up to' speeds have little meaning for services delivered via ADSL. We found that the average download speed received for 'up to' 20Mbits/sec or 24Mbits/sec ADSL packages was 6.6Mbits/sec, and 37 per cent of customers had average speeds of 4Mbits/sec or less...theoretical 'up to' speeds continue to be widely used in advertising and we consider that these have the potential to mislead customers," the report concluded.

Ofcom said that if speed is used in broadband advertising it should be based on a 'typical speed range' (TSR), similar to the APR rate used in the financial industry. It also said these TSR "should have at least equal prominence to an 'up to' speed" claim."

Cap and BCap are expected to announce any changes to the guidlines in the autumn, but Andrew Ferguson of advice site Thinkbroadband warned this may not make much difference.

He welcomed the news that speeds were rising but said that Ofcom's advertising recommendations may only cause more confusion.

"While a revamp of the rules governing broadband speeds is long overdue, it is not clear whether the removal of 'up to' speeds to be replaced by a typical range will be vastly better.

"Consumers have had 10 years of getting used to 'up to' but alas the explanations have always been weak at the point of sale, if a consumer under the new regime has ISP A saying they will receive typically 3 to 6Mbits/sec and ISP B saying 4 to 5Mbits/sec, how will they decide? Even more confusing if the user is with ISP B and already getting 7Mbits/sec.

"Comparisons to the APR used for credit cards and loans is not appropriate," he said.

BT also said it was "confused" by Ofcom's claims as it gave "bespoke speed estimates to all customers at the point of sale. No customer should be in any doubt as to the likely speed that they should expect from our service - before they make a purchase decision."

As well as publishing the report,  upgrades to the regulator's voluntary Code of Practice (CoP) also come into effect today. There are two key changes to the CoP, which if ISPs sign up to, they agree to abide by.

Customers must be given a speed range based on customers with similar line lengths. Also they can cancel a contract within three months, without penalty,  if the maximum line speed they get is significantly lower than the bottom of the estimated range. Ofcom estimates this as below 10 per cent of the speed estimated by the ISP.