BBB National Programs‘ National Advertising Review Board (NARB), in response to a complaint from Charter Communications, is recommending that AT&T either modify or drop certain ad claims for internet service.
AT&T said it would comply, but "respectfully" disagreed that its fiber ads should be pulled or modified.
NARB was upholding a decision by the National Advertising Division (NAD), which has been arbitrating cross-claims by internet and mobile wireless providers against a host of ads for years.
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Charter had challenged five video ads, three radio ads, one outdoor ad, one online display ad, and six AT&T web page ads claiming AT&T's upload speeds were 20 times faster than cable broadband.
NARB said AT&T should pull its "Special Lady," "Super Fan," "Frustrated Family," and "Reliability" claims or change them to "conspicuously delineate" which tier of service has "up to 20 times faster upload speeds," and if it includes price information, should make clear what price tiers provide the "20 times faster" service and which don't.
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NARB also said AT&T should discontinue its business fiber and small business owner commercials or modify them to make it clear the "half the price of cable" claim only applies to its top tier versus cable's top tier.
NARB also concluded that AT&T had provided no evidence for its claim of "superior performance" for videoconferencing, video chatting, surfing, streaming, or gaming over cable broadband, though it added, as had NAB, that nothing prevented AT&T from supporting those claims. ■
