Consumers support ban on ‘unlimited’ broadband marketing

Despite promises from Broadband companies of providing ‘unlimited’ broadband, an investigation earlier this month by price comparison and switching site uSwitch.com lifted the lid on broadband companies prepared to disconnect customers they considered to be using their internet connection ‘to excess’.

uSwitch.com called for a ban on broadband providers promoting their products as ‘unlimited’, wrongly misleading consumers by giving the impression they can download as much content as they like. In reality, due to differing ‘Fair Usage Polices’ held by broadband companies (enabling them to describe their service as ‘unlimited’), companies have the right to limit a customer’s broadband service when usage is ‘excessive’. However, few companies actually define the term ‘excessive’, making it virtually impossible for a customer to know the exact point at which they will go over their limit. In fact, over 9 million broadband users are at risk of having their service limited, suspended or even terminated by their provider, because they wrongly believe that their broadband connection has no download limit.

Following on from the uSwitch.com investigation nearly 3,000 consumers have said ‘enough is enough’ and expressed their concern by joining the fight against broadband providers by logging an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website – It’s now official, consumers want ‘unlimited’ to really mean unlimited. Broadband provider, Toucan has already given in to the pressure and is the leading the way by dumping their ‘unlimited download’ tab.

uSwitch.comis calling for:

The term" unlimited" to be banned in broadband marketing, unless it genuinely has no limits or restrictions

Standardisation of broadband fair usage policies, quantifying "excessive" usage and defining thepolicy for restricting or terminating the service of customers that go over thislimit <

Compulsorywarnings before service is disconnected, such as alerts on customers' bills ordirect contact

Steve Weller, Head of Communication Services at independent price comparison and switching service uSwitch.com, comments:“It’s encouraging to see Toucan taking this issue seriously by removing the word ‘unlimited’ from its marketing literature, however, it is still only one provider and we hope that many more will follow suit. The ‘unlimited’ issue has touched a nerve with broadband users who have joined the fight by starting an e-petition which only reinforces our push for this issue to be addressed by the ASA and Ofcom.

Weller concludes: “We will continue to put pressure on the providers as well as the ASA until this issue is addressed and ‘unlimited’ broadband is culled unless it really means unlimited. In the meantime, we urge consumers to be aware of their broadband usage to make sure they are not caught out.

“If consumers would like to join the fight to stop broadband providers using the phrase ‘unlimited’ they should sign the e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website. We believe that the more people to air their views, the more the industry will stand up and make the right decisions”.