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posted by janrinok on Tuesday August 07 2018, @06:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the s-l-o-w-e-r dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Only one of top 12 ISPs raised listed speed after new truth-in-advertising rule.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/isps-listed-speeds-drop-up-to-41-after-uk-requires-accurate-advertising/

Most broadband providers in the UK "have been forced to cut the headline speeds they advertise when selling deals" because of new UK rules requiring accurate speed claims, according to a consumer advocacy group.

"Eleven major suppliers have had to cut the advertised speed of some of their deals, with the cheapest deals dropping by 41 percent," the group wrote last week.

The analysis was conducted by Which?, a brand name used by the Consumers' Association, a UK-based charity that does product research and advocacy on behalf of consumers.

"BT, EE, John Lewis Broadband, Plusnet, Sky, Zen Internet, Post Office, SSE, TalkTalk, and Utility Warehouse previously advertised their standard (ADSL) broadband deals as 'up to 17Mbps,'" the group noted in its announcement on Saturday. "The new advertised speed is now more than a third lower at 10Mbps or 11Mbps."

"TalkTalk has completely dropped advertising speed claims from most of its deals," the consumer group also said. "Vodafone has also changed the name of some of its deals: Fibre 38 and Fibre 76 are now Superfast 1 and Superfast 2."

The new rules were implemented in May by the Committees of Advertising Practice, the UK ad industry's self-regulatory body. Which? said it had been "campaigning for an advertising change since 2013."

Previously, ISPs were allowed to advertise broadband speeds of "up to" a certain amount, even if only one in 10 customers could ever get those speeds, Which? wrote. "But the new advertising rules mean that at least half of customers must now be able to get an advertised average speed, even during peak times (8-10pm)," the group said.

The entry-level speed tiers were apparently the least accurate before the rule change. While advertised speeds dropped the most on entry-level tiers, there were drops in higher-speed tiers as well.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:33AM (#718671)

    Convert to how a business would say it:

    In related news, reporting with misleading claims in clickbaity headlines is up to 37.4%, or more, compared to the previous year.

    But, getting back down to earth, it seems hard for me to even think of "honesty" in stuff like copyright violation, when the ISP flagrantly wags " we can lie any way we want, but you *are* going to remit what we put on your bill." Dammit, the purchased stuff, streamed from authorized business sites, skips and hangs up all the time. Gimme something that transfers in the time window that the ISP provides, then can play back at video speeds, and, like a restaurant, just because something was served to me, I am not under any obligation to eat any of it. I detest unskippable ads as much as I detest some chef putting garbanzo beans in my soup.