Campaign re-launched over ‘up to’ broadband speeds

It has been reported that a campaign has been re-launched by a television show with regards to the ‘up to’ speeds offered and advertised by broadband providers.

There has been a great deal of controversy over recent years over the fact that broadband providers advertise ‘up to’ speeds that are unrealistic for most users but are still eye-catching enough to tempt consumers to take out the service thinking that they could get the ‘up to’ speed.

It has now been reported that a television show has re-launched a campaign to get broadband providers to remove the words ‘up to’ from the advertisements that they run. The call for the removal of these words has been made by the Gadget Show, which has called on the Advertising Standards Authority to get the words removed from adverts.

Whilst broadband speeds have improved over the years, recent research has shown that the average broadband speed in the UK was around 5.2Mbps, and this was less than half of the average advertised ‘up to’ speed. The average advertised up to speed was 11.5Mbps according to research.

Many campaigners and consumers have expressed concern over the fact that broadband providers advertise their speeds in this way as many consumers fall for the advertised headline speed but do not realise that they have little chance of achieving anywhere near that speed due to a number of factors. Many have therefore dubbed this as a misleading way of advertising for broadband providers.