We’re more than aware of the tricks advertisers use to market products and services and over time consumers have learned to take the information they are given by advertising campaigns with a pinch of salt. But although by now we may be familiar with some techniques, knowing to look out for asterisks and small print before buying, some things still catch us out.
As a comparatively new concept to consumers compared to other marketing campaigns, internet connection deals still seem to be getting away with using advertising pitfalls and traps. Arming themselves with advertising tricks up their sleeve, providers are managing to hide their services’ shortcomings in a veil of jargon. As Mbps is thrown around as a unit of measurement and promises of ‘infinity’ are made, it can all get very confusing.
News stories are rich with tales of large service providers receiving a slap on the wrist for engaging in misleading advertising campaigns. A common tool the services have been using to entice customers in is by stating ‘up to’ speeds that are very rarely reached. Stories tell of communications regulator Ofcom recently instructing service providers to give an estimated time of the actual speed a customer will receive, whatever that figure may be, as opposed to the misleading ‘up to’ quotas.
Ofcom’s research and the release of data proves just how much the campaigns are getting away with as some results are quite a lot more extreme than was expected. The data is pretty useful for users to see the clear information they want without it being jaded by clever marketing tricks.
One particular observation has been noted of a package offering speeds of ‘up to’ 24Mbps was actually handing out and average sluggish speed of 6.2Mbps- a significant difference.
The providers have effectively shot themselves in the foot in some circumstances where they continue to produce exaggerated speed predictions they cause controversy even when national speeds are genuinely improving.
Internet services providers, or ‘ISP’s, don’t always take the blame straight away when confronted about the service they are providing. Some ISP’s have retaliated by suggesting that the source of the problem may be to do with the customer’s router and setup rather than a fault in their part. While this seems like an excuse every aspect should be checked before fingers are pointed and to really achieve the potential of a service.
Away from the advertisements, customers can find help deciding which service is right for what they are looking for, from router comparisons to deals and packages, to Orange and Sky broadband reviews, among other services. Help can be found on various ISP forums for customers hoping to get a great broadband deal without being lured in by a misleading campaign.
This article is brought to you by steve, who has extensive knowledge about Broadband DSL internet and troubleshooting problems associated with broadband internet. He always looks for great DSL Deals in his area for a stable DSL connection.
