The Advertising Standards Authority has banned "misleading" advertising from O2 and BT following complaints from competing telecom operators, and in this case members of the public. Last year, O2 launched a campaign on its website saying that its personalized "Upgrade" plans would not charge customers for a phone they had already paid for during the minimum term of their contract. O2 Refresh separates the phone and airtime elements of one fee so that subscribers do not pay the fee until the initial contract period has expired.
O2 update
As part of the campaign, the operator also provided a calculator that allowed visitors to log into their current network so that O2 could "calculate" the potential savings from switching to O2. Another YouTube ad made similar statements about the overpricing of phones by other carriers. Three objected, arguing that the calculator did not reflect actual costs and did not specify what was being compared. Meanwhile, Virgin Media said the campaigns implied other carriers were not offering personalized plans when, in fact, Virgin and Sky were at the time. O2 stated that the comparison was comparable, that the moderately informed customer could understand the costs, and reiterated that the proposed calculations were illustrative. He also denied that the announcement implied that "Upgrade" was the only custom plan offer on the market. The ASA disagreed, stating that the advertisements did not clearly indicate that the calculator would take the costs of a current bundled contract and compare it to an unbundled contract. "We said to make sure their advertising doesn't suggest they were the only provider offering unbundled contracts or that they didn't offer bundled contracts," ASA explained. “We also told them not to compare the costs of group contracts with unbundled contracts unless they specify the nature of this comparison. We also told them not to make comparative claims based on speculative numbers and not to suggest that other networks have not offered unbundled plans. "
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(Image credit: future)
Wi-Fi BT advertisement
In another case, BT has been instructed not to air any advertisements that make claims about the Wi-Fi coverage provided by its home broadband products. The advertisements claimed that BT would provide guaranteed coverage in every room through the use of disk repeaters, with the provider offering a €20 discount on a customer's next bill if this could not be achieved. Virgin Media and Vodafone, along with 11 members of the public, disputed these allegations, while 3 other citizens said the announcement did not clearly state that the drives should be connected to the sector. BT cited research showing that in 96% of cases customers could get full coverage with one additional drive and in 4% of cases full coverage could be achieved with two drives. Of the 1,000 tested properties, only one payment required. The company added that it was generally accepted that electrical items should be plugged in. However, the ASA also upheld this complaint. He acknowledged BT's research and the fact that it had tested a wide variety of property types. However, he claimed that there was no reliable data to back up the claims, particularly with regard to speeds. "We said not to state that they guaranteed Wi-Fi in every room unless they have sufficient evidence to support the allegations. We also told them not to use images that suggest Wi-Fi units do not need to be plugged into a power outlet." We guarantee that our full Wi-Fi customers will have Wi-Fi in every room," a BT spokesperson told TechRadar Pro. "Unlike other providers, we ship our customers a new Smart Hub 2 and Wi-Fi puck. Fi that receive a strong Wi-Fi signal in every room for the majority of customers across the UK." "We are also going the extra mile for customers who live in larger homes and will be happy to ship more Wi-Fi pucks and arrange an engineering visit if needed - we will always help our customers get Wi-Fi access to every piece The ASA wants us to explain more clearly that we will also send customers €20 if they are still not satisfied and we have changed our announcements to make it more clear."