USwitch rallies against unlimited broadband advertising

Thu, 12 Apr 2007

USwitch, the online comparison site, is backing a campaign to urge the Prime Minister to stop broadband providers advertising so-called "unlimited" services. It is understood to be calling on media regulator Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority to enforce new rules.

The campaign, which has been lodged on the Government's e-petition beta site and has been signed by 5,000 people so far, and says many such services are limited in the small print or by undefined fair use policies. USwitch is launching an email campaign to support the petition.

The petition says that many internet service providers are advertising broadband with "unlimited" downloads. But it adds: "The majority of these services are not unlimited as in the providers fair usage policies they either cap the use at a defined amount, or use an undefined criteria that only they know."

The e-petitions system was launched by 10 Downing Street in November last year giving UK citizens the opportunity to create a petition and collect signatures via the website.

The service, which is still in a public "beta" testing phase, has attracted more than 2.5 million signatures with more than 3,000 petitions active and available for signing.