Orange in ‘unlimited broadband’ rap
14th June 2007
Communications giant Orange was yesterday rapped for advertising its “unlimited broadband” and home phone service without mentioning the applicable FPU (fair usage policy). It is law for all ISPs to add the FPU disclaimer if they mention ‘unlimited’ in any advertising.
This rap follows a complaint by T-Mobile which was referred to the ASA following a misleading magazine advert. Orange’s ‘unlimited’ broadband offering is actually limited by a 40 gigabyte monthly download limit and calls are restricted to 1000 minutes.
Orange has claimed that the omission of the FPU was down to human error rather than as part of an intention to mislead the public. Orange have claimed that only 1% of broadband users ever hit their broadband download quota and the company will continue to advertise its ‘unlimited’ offering.
‘Unlimited’ and ‘free’ broadband has been receiving a rocky ride in the press recently and this news comes the same week that a Downing Street petition has been gathering pace to ban advertising on ‘unlimited’ broadband that is capped by fair usage policies.
For news about the recent trend towards consumers moving back to ‘paid for’ broadband services, see our recent press release about free broadband.
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