MP wants more honest ISPs
October 5, 2007 at 2:34 am
We all get wound up with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the fibs they tell us in order to get us to choose their service over rivals’. If it’s not the connection reliability or the speed, then it’s the so-called help they offer customers. Their time might soon be up though, as a campaign to get the ISPs to be honest with prospective customers has recently gathered speed and now has backing from MPs, as they take their case to the regulator Ofcom.
Launched only in September this year, Computeractive’s Crystal Clear Broadband Campaign is intent on forcing the ISPs to stop us having to read through reams and reams of small print in order to find out exactly what service we will receive. Their main gripe comes with the advertised and promised speeds of the broadband service, which, as they have highlighted, vastly differs when one actually uses the service.
According to their campaign aims, they feel “Ofcom should oblige ISPs to provide clear information about the actual speed they are likely to receive in the form of a ‘typical rate’, much like that published by credit card and loan providers.” Where a number of customers sign up to deals promising maximum speeds of 8Mbps for example, often in reality it ends up being less that half that, due to a variety of factors.
The campaign gained much stronger legs recently too, when Conservative MP, Sir George Young, pledged his support for the issue. Sir George has been an active supporter of this cause for some time now and in September 2004, he was spear-heading support for more equal sharing in the ISP industry in order to boost the UK’s coverage.
Young has given full support to this campaign. “There’s insufficient consumer understanding of what’s realistic to expect in terms of day-to-day performance, as opposed to the maximum speed of a broadband line; and suppliers have a key role to play in setting realistic expectations rather than hyping the maximum as if it were the norm. And yes, I do believe Ofcom has a role to play.”
The campaign already has 3500 signatures in the first week since its launch, and it’s pretty clear that with the growing support in parliament, Ofcom will not be able to shut its ears to the noise. Already the regulators have recognised the campaign’s concerns. A spokesperson for Ofcom said, “We are aware of the issues of speed and have been asking the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to step in when there was unfair advertising.”
The campaign looks set to gain speed and muscle very quickly, which will come as a relief to many dissatisfied internet customers.
