Broadband speeds 'could drop by 25 per cent' over misleading consumers

Broadband companies could see their average speeds drop by up to 25 per cent after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) issued a review into the way firms advertise speeds that only 10 per cent of the country can receive.

The review comes off the back of leading consumer group, Which? calling for the ASA to blanket ban any internet speed claim that is received by less than half of its customers. The group claims the adverts are misleading for 84 per cent of customers, as they cannot receive the advertised speeds.

According to the research carried out by Which?, leading internet service providers (ISP) offer the top ten per cent speed. Sixty-eight per cent of broadband providers' newspaper adverts made claims of achieving the top broadband speeds between April 2015 and March 2016.

Alex Neil, Which? director of policy and campaigns said of the complaint to ASA: “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."

ASA was already investigating ISP broadband speed claims in their adverts. In January of this year, the authority published research which suggested the price plans were “misleading and confusing” to the majority of consumers. On responding to Which? a spokesperson for ASA said that they would be looking into ISP advertising practices and that the findings would be “published sometime in the autumn”.

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