Two-thirds of fibre optic customers 'not aware' fibre services supplied by copper wires

Research carried out by Cable.co.uk has shown that two-thirds of fibre broadband customers are not aware that their fibre service arrives at their home through a standard copper line.

The research comes days after a cross-party group of MPs led by Grant Shapps, called the Broadband Infrastructure Group (BIG), demanded an end to misleading broadband adverts and comparing it to the recent Volkswagen emission tests.

The research surveyed 1,000 fibre broadband customers and found that over two-thirds (67.7 per cent) believe that the cable supplying their internet service is fibre optic, with just 9.3 per cent saying the correct answer is the standard copper telephone line. Over one in five (21.6 per cent) confessed to not knowing the type of cabling.

This is not a new debate, however. In November 2014, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) decided not to continue a complaint that BT had referred to its Infinity product in a manner which could have mislead customers into thinking it was an FTTP rather than an FTTC.

The research highlights the continued discussion over the connectivity of homes being either copper or fibre and to whether it truly is FTTP or FTTC and has been hotly debated.

Benoit Felten, a consulting director for a number of leading French and Belgian telecom firms, said: "It’s time for the marketers to clarify and sell what they advertise.

“There’s a reason we don’t have ‘meat’ on food labels instead of 'beef' or 'pork'. There’s also a reason why horse meat lasagne was a big scandal in Europe: it’s not that they were improper for consumption, it’s that when you buy beef, you should get beef.”

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(Image: >Kings Sutton)