NEWS AOL has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over advertising claims it made about its one-megabit broadband service.
A member of the public complained that an advert in the national papers showing a cheetah with "running spikes" on its feet and the slogan 'Fast just got faster' promised a 1Mb broadband service it was unlikely to deliver all the time.
The complainant said that because the service was shared between lots of different users, it was unlikely to reach 1Mb for downloads.
AOL countered that if certain factors that could hamper users' ability to get the maximum download speed - including the make and model of PC, the distance between the user's home and the local BT exchange point, the time of day and the number of users online - were beyond their control and if everything was going their way at any given point, the speed was achievable.
The ASA said in its adjudication that the ad "exaggerated the likelihood of users achieving the maximum 1Mb download speed".
AOL has since ditched the advert in question and now uses the phrasing "up to 1Mb" in its promotional material.
Comments
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1. Andy Gibson
I suppose people like AOL must forget that simple home users of a broadband service will not realise that it is 1 megabit and not 1 megabyte. The differance is quite big especially when looking at download speeds.
Even saying up to 1mb is still cheating a bit they wont get past 100kb/sec let alone naer 1mb/sec!
Andy Gibson,
2. Wayne Moore
The ASA is out of order here. Any internet connection is only as fast as the slowest link in the chain, be it the modem, PC, BT line, AOL equipment or the web site you're downloading from. Can we not call 56k modems as such now? How about 100Mb LAN equipment? Rubbish
3. Alfred Reading
Those who are IT competent know that quoted speeds are a deception but live with it because the industry has been getting away with it for many years. I am now getting about 512kbs from ntl broadband because they have upgraded the service to a claimed 600kbs. For the general user I think the ASA is correct and more truthful advertising would benefit all of us.
4. anonymous
What a joke. I'm stunned that AOL hasn't been hit with any type of consequence for any of it's past false advertising.
Anyone remember this one..."AOL is the internet!"
Remember their commercials on TV with people making this claim? This was back in the early days of the internet and it was a blatently false statement that caused thousands and thousands of people to call local isp's complaining and asking technical questions about AOL, thinking that all internet services had something to do with AOL.
Strangely enough, as soon as I and a web developer friend at the time sent an email to AOL (and the Consumer Protection Agency) accusing them of false advertising...the "AOL is the internet!" campaign seemed to dissappear over night.
My career has now been internet related for over 10 years, and I've had issues with AOL and their business practices for almost all of those years.
5. Blorg
I completely agree, this is insane of the ASA. Almost all broadband products are sold on 'rated speed' but have a contention ratio that means that you will not necessarily get this speed 24x7. So presumably any product from any company with contention less than 1:1 can no longer be advertised at its rated speed?