EE has come under fire after a customer launched an official complainant challenging whether the claim that 4G double speeds were active was misleading, because the service only delivered download speeds of 8-14 Mbps, rather than the claimed 24-30 Mbps.
The complaint was made to the UK Advertising Standards Authority by a disgruntled EE customer who found that, although the double speed 4G rollout had been completed in his postcode, speeds were slower than the advertised 24-30Mbits/second average, and far short of the top speeds of 60Mbits/second.
EE said it understood that the complainant believed the wording displayed on their coverage checker results web page was misleading, because the complainant had not been able to obtain the average double speeds referred to.
However, the mobile operator insisted that it was clear in its wording on the "Technical Bit" section on the double speed web page, which made it clear that speeds were doubling from an average of 12-15 Mbps to an average of 24-30 Mbps. EE explained that as with any average, there will be 4G double speed customers who have achieved lower speeds and some who have achieved higher speeds. It said that since the launch of 4G in October 2012, it has used average speed claims to indicate to consumers the kind of speeds they could expect to achieve on their mobile internet.
EE added that the wording displayed after the complainant had entered their postcode, which stated "this area has been upgraded to double speed", only appeared to a customer doing a coverage check, when the whole of the postcode had been upgraded to 4G double speed. It explained that if only a small percentage of the postcode had been upgraded, then this wording would not have appeared. EE stated that it is unable to examine a consumer's speed on an individual basis but only with reference to their postcode.
The ASA acknowledged that the complainant had only achieved mobile download speeds of 8-14 Mbits/sec rather than speeds of between 24 and 30 Mbits/sec, but added: "we noted that the quoted speed of 24-30 Mbps was only an average speed and EE had provided us with evidence showing that the majority of customers did achieve these speeds. The written and graphical evidence EE sent us showed the speeds achieved in the double speed cities and how that data was used to give an average double speed. We therefore considered that most customers would achieve the quoted average speeds in the ad."
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The complaint was made to the UK Advertising Standards Authority by a disgruntled EE customer who found that, although the double speed 4G rollout had been completed in his postcode, speeds were slower than the advertised 24-30Mbits/second average, and far short of the top speeds of 60Mbits/second.
EE said it understood that the complainant believed the wording displayed on their coverage checker results web page was misleading, because the complainant had not been able to obtain the average double speeds referred to.
However, the mobile operator insisted that it was clear in its wording on the "Technical Bit" section on the double speed web page, which made it clear that speeds were doubling from an average of 12-15 Mbps to an average of 24-30 Mbps. EE explained that as with any average, there will be 4G double speed customers who have achieved lower speeds and some who have achieved higher speeds. It said that since the launch of 4G in October 2012, it has used average speed claims to indicate to consumers the kind of speeds they could expect to achieve on their mobile internet.
EE added that the wording displayed after the complainant had entered their postcode, which stated "this area has been upgraded to double speed", only appeared to a customer doing a coverage check, when the whole of the postcode had been upgraded to 4G double speed. It explained that if only a small percentage of the postcode had been upgraded, then this wording would not have appeared. EE stated that it is unable to examine a consumer's speed on an individual basis but only with reference to their postcode.
The ASA acknowledged that the complainant had only achieved mobile download speeds of 8-14 Mbits/sec rather than speeds of between 24 and 30 Mbits/sec, but added: "we noted that the quoted speed of 24-30 Mbps was only an average speed and EE had provided us with evidence showing that the majority of customers did achieve these speeds. The written and graphical evidence EE sent us showed the speeds achieved in the double speed cities and how that data was used to give an average double speed. We therefore considered that most customers would achieve the quoted average speeds in the ad."
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