Virgin Media calls for fairer broadband advertising

Fibre optic broadband provider Virgin Media has again called on its rivals to give customers a more realistic impression of the connection speeds they are likely to receive.

Executive director of broadband Jon James said the process of rolling out next-generation internet access is "not enough" if its competitors fail to deliver on their marketing claims.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently ruled that internet service providers must only promote speeds that can be received by at least one in ten customers.

However, Mr James claimed too many broadband marketing campaigns still fail to achieve this "low threshold".

"The new guidance was welcome but we publish the typical real-world speeds our customers get. Doing less gives the industry - and broadband - a bad name," he remarked.

Despite Mr James's call for clearer advertising, the ASA banned one of Virgin Media's ads last month for claiming its 50Mbps fibre broadband service is the best in the UK for online gaming.

The promo was described as "misleading" due to the "high upstream jitter" affecting Virgin's 50Mbps package.