3 Files Complaint against Vodafone
The Advertising Standards Authority, an independent regulator for advertisements, has received a complaint from 3 against Vodafone, stating that the ‘7.2 Mb Mobile broadband speed claims by Vodafone are ‘misleading’ and ‘unlikely to be achieved’.
3, a rival network of Vodafone, argues that Vodafone’s claim to supply the said speed of 7.2Mb is only partially true, and such speeds can only be achieved in two places: London and in airports. A spokesperson from 3, commenting on this issue, said it is practically impossible to experience those broadband speeds even using the latest 3.6 Mbps technology due to the complexities of mobile broadband.
Vodafone admitted that it is planning to provide speeds of up to 3.6MB to half the population by the end of this summer. Majority of the population, said Vodafone, receives a speed of 1.8 Mb, which is way off from the ones claimed in its advertisements. Vodafone, based on its own claims of being able to achieve top speeds of 7.2Mb, has been recognized as the fastest network in the UK - a claim that arguably gives them an edge in this business.
These are valid reasons for 3 to be a bit miffed with the misleading claims of its rival. But, this whole episode of accusing other networks of false high-speed claims, might seem a little amusing to some observers, since no advertisement of any service provider in the mobile broadband market discloses the actual speed (click for a mobile broadband speed test), which has long been a cause of frustration for the customers.