Clarity needed in Internet advertising, PIAC report says

Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) should better inform consumers about factors that affect the performance of their Internet connections and how actual speeds compare to advertised rates, a new report by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) says. In a report released Wednesday titled “Transparency in Broadband Advertising to Canadian Consumers,” PIAC said consumers have high expectations for Internet services that promise download and upload capabilities reaching “up to” a particular speed, but receive little information to gauge whether those advertised speeds are accurate. “While there are a number of technical factors that can affect a consumer’s home Internet performance, very little information is provided to consumers by Canadian ISPs about these factors and their effect on the achievability of the advertised ‘up to’ speed claim,” said the report written by PIAC’s Laman Meshadiyeva and Janet Lo. It added that any information ISPs do provide about speed limiting factors, “is often located in the ‘fine print’ in footnotes and not prominently placed.” In the 61-page report, PIAC said it commissioned Environics Research Group to conduct an online survey of 2002 adult Canadians from Oct. 20-26, 2011 to determine their attitudes about Internet speeds and services. That survey found that 83 per cent of respondents said download speed was a “very important” or “somewhat important” factor when choosing an ISP, PIAC said. It added that 75 per cent of respondents did not know what speed tier they subscribed to. The report also analyzed the print, online and TV ads of incumbent ISPs, BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp.and Shaw Communications Inc., from Sept. 1, 2011 to Feb. 2, 2012, and found that Rogers, Bell and Shaw all advertise their services as achieving “up to” certain speeds. “Telus was the only ISP of the four ISPs examined to provide the consumer with a range of download speeds that can be expected for each package,” the report said. It added that additional information about factors that could impact Internet service speeds was not always easy to find on the ISPs’ websites. PIAC said a “majority” of consumers believed they would receive the maximum advertised Internet speed after viewing an “up to” ad. It said this was regardless of “the style or the clarity of the ‘up to’ speed disclaimer.” The group added that 51 per cent of its survey’s respondents said they believe their home Internet connection was operating at the maximum download speed advertised by their provider. Only 18 per cent of respondents believe their connection operated at the advertised download speed “rarely” or “never.” “It may be fair to state that if consumers’ expectations with respect to how their home Internet connection achieves promised download speed are not met by their ISP, consumers’ levels of satisfaction with the service may very likely change,” the report said. Rogers spokeswoman Jennifer Kett said in an emailed statement Thursday that Rogers is working to ensure its customers are well informed about their Internet service speeds. She noted that the company has hired U.K. technology firm SamKnows Ltd. to measure the performance of its broadband connections from inside subscribers’ homes. “We are committing to long-term in-home testing as an additional quality measure to ensure customers are getting world-leading Internet experiences,” Kett said. Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis said in an emailed statement that Bell provides its customers with both minimum and maximum service speed targets for each of its Internet service packages. She added that Internet speeds can be impacted by factors such as a customer’s physical distance from key components of the company’s network infrastructure, as well as the type and configuration of a customer’s modem or router. “Bell is very clear with customers about any potential speed variance” she said. The PIAC report made six recommendations that aim to force ISPs to disclose more information to Canadian Internet consumers. It said ISPs should standardize their disclosures and Internet performance claims, and how they measure their Internet speed and performance. Speed and performance information, it added, should also be “prominently” placed in advertisements, “to better empower consumers to evaluate their satisfaction with the Internet services they are receiving.” PIAC also called on the CRTC and the Competition Bureau to play more active roles in monitoring the Canadian retail Internet market. It said the CRTC should examine whether regulatory oversight is required to provide consumers with more clarity about their Internet services, and said the commission should also collect its own data to determine how actual Internet speed and performance levels measure up to ISPs’ advertised claims. Measurement Canada, the federal agency responsible for assuring the accuracy and integrity of measurement in the Canadian marketplace, could also provide recourse against flawed methodology used by ISPs to measure their services, PIAC said. It added the agency could “provide insight into what constitutes proper network testing.” —With reporting by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.ca and editing by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Clarity needed in Internet advertising, PIAC report says

News | January 24, 2013

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