The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned another ad for UK fixed wireless broadband ISP 6G Internet (IX Wireless), this time formisleading“Flyer promotion claiming to have been provided by the provider”Full fiber speed broadband(Full fiber is a term typically used only in FTTP networks).
The provider had an issue with the ASA last August 2023 (here). This happened after it was discovered that confusion was caused by “.Misleading content that suggests that 6th generation mobile networks exist and are available to consumers”. 6G Internet uses WiFi-based technology and has nothing to do with the future 6G mobile network standard.
Interestingly, the original “6G” complaint also indirectly addressed the provider’s questionable use of “.full fiber” advertising text (e.g. “6Ginternet: Full fiber speed broadband for just £9.99/month), but they did not issue a ruling on that. However, the new complaint relates to another leaflet advert seen at the end of September 2023, following the ASA’s previous judgment.
The flyer said:Fixed Wireless Broadband* Full fiber speed broadband from £21.99 per month. Based on 24 month contract”. The asterisk is linked to the small print at the bottom of the leaflet and reads “*6Gi broadband is delivered using fixed wireless and full fiber technology...”
In its defense, the ISP said it believed consumers would understand the argument.Full fiber speed broadband” means that the advertised 100Mbps fixed wireless broadband service speed achieved download speeds comparable to a full fiber download service. The ASA naturally objected.
ASA Ruling Reference Number: A23-1213406 6G Internet Ltd
“We acknowledged that the ad also included the claim ‘Fixed Wireless Broadband’, which was also displayed prominently, but not in prominent colour, and that the headline ‘Full We considered that the placement of the ad above the claim “Fiber Speed Broadband” likely created an unwarranted impression. There is considerable ambiguity when consumers view advertisements. We believe that the small print “6Gi broadband is delivered using fixed wireless and full fiber technology” does not fully explain how the service works and implies that it is still a full fiber product. Ta. The small print also says “Not provided on mobile networks and will not utilize 4G, 5G, or future his 6G cellular technology,” which means the service is not wireless and in a sense, the service is not wireless. It was thought that this further reinforced the impression that there was no such thing. , utilized his fiber-to-premises FTTP technology.
We acknowledged that 6Gi provided data on a small sample of 49 customers. This showed that all of those customers were achieving download speeds of 100 Mbps at the time of installation, and that 90% of those customers continued to achieve that speed. I understood that 100 Mbps was on the lower end of the speeds typically offered using full fiber broadband. Nevertheless, we considered it unlikely that consumers would interpret the claim “full fiber speed broadband” to mean that the product is not full fiber, but provides speeds comparable to full fiber products. , considered the data to be unrelated.
For these reasons, we thought this ad gave the overall impression that the product being advertised was full fiber broadband. Because this was not true, we determined that this advertisement was likely to mislead consumers. ”
The ASA has therefore banned advertising in its current form and instructed providers to ensure it continues to run. ”neither stated nor suggested” claimed their service was a full fiber broadband product, but it was not.
As a side note, the lawsuit also revealed that only 789 customers use 100Mbps packages on 6Gi’s network, 366 of which joined in 2023. Until recently this was our fastest package, but in the past few months we have launched both services. 300Mbps and 200Mbps package options.
