Three complaints that were recently lodged about advertising from Vodafone with regards to its mobile broadband services are to be upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Two adverts that were shown in the national press are at the centre of the complaints made against the provider and contain the headline “The fastest, most reliable mobile broadband in the galaxy. Only £15 a month.” The claims made in the advert are being questioned by T-Mobile, 3G, Hutchinson and a member of the public as to whether claims of being the fastest mobile broadband could actually be substantiated by Vodafone, whether Vodafone was the most reliable mobile broadband and also that customers were being misled by the phrase “mobile broadband that’s light years ahead.”

Tests that had been carried out by LCC International and backed up any of the claims made in the advertisement were given as a response by Vodafone to the ASA. From the information provided by Vodafone some interesting observations were made by the ASA having assessed all the information provided. The test data provided by LCC showed that the average time taken to download a web page was faster with other mobile broadband providers in six out of the ten regions in the UK that were included in the tests, and testing in homes was not included in the data provided.

With the ASA upholding all three of the complaints made it has told Vodafone broadband that for all future advertising it must make clear reference as to the basis of its claims.

A key issue regarding mobile broadband that was highlighted from this adjudication was that if users are going to be accessing a service from a fixed location, before entering into a lengthy contract, ensure that the 3G signal for the provider is strong enough by either using a mobile phone or somebody else’s dongle with the same provider. Also, factors that may affect mobile broadband connection speeds are the distance from a base station, any clutter or environmental factors in the area and the number of users that are connecting to the same network in the area.