An NTL press advert was headlined "High Speed Broadband Internet only £14.99 a month."
Freeserve and a member of the public complained to the ASA. They argued that broadband services are those with a speed rating of above 500kbps, whereas the advertised service was only 128kbps.
NTL pointed out that OFTEL and the DTI defined broadband as "higher bandwidth always-on services, offering data rates of 128 kbps and above." The company added that the technical definition of broadband, as used by physicists, was "a system where a signal was carried over a wide band of frequencies"; NTL's service was transmitted in a 6 MHz channel, which was a broad frequency band, making it a broadband service within the technical definition.
The ASA acknowledged NTL's defences; but, because the ASA considered that most consumers would understand broadband to mean a service offering upwards of 500 kbps, the Authority concluded that the claim "broadband", without qualification, was likely to mislead.
NTL has agreed to remove the claim "High Speed" from future adverts. The ASA has asked the company also to include a prominent reference to the speed of the service.