Afrihost uncapped ADSL is uncapped: ASA
Fair Use Policies (FUP) related to uncapped broadband services are one of the most discussed topics worldwide, with many consumers arguing that uncapped or unlimited should not include any limitation or restriction.
This debate has reached local shores after a slew of uncapped ADSL services were launched over the last few months with a range of different fair use policies and actions taken against high end users. Speed throttling, traffic shaping and even service termination is not uncommon with heavy downloaders (aka bandwidth hogs).
The legitimacy of using the term ‘uncapped’ in conjunction with a fair use policy was recently tested with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) after a consumer lodged a complaint about Afrihost’s uncapped ADSL advertising.
Afrihosts punts its ‘ADSL Uncapped’ by stating that a user can “Pay a flat monthly rate and use the internet as much as you want – Pure Internet Joy!”.
Various complainants approached the ASA arguing that the advertisement is misleading as the word “uncapped” implies limitless access, but the service being offered is limited to specific threshold data usage. “Once these thresholds are reached, connection speed is throttled severely,” the complainants said.
Afrihost however said that their uncapped ADSL offering does meet the definition of an “uncapped” service as the user’s connection is never terminated, regardless of usage.
“The service will however be subjected to throttling and possibly shaping where certain usage limits are reached by the user. The details of such limitations are available on its website, and are reasonable to ensure best service to its entire customer base,” said Afrihost.
The ASA acknowledged that there is some scope for a potential customer to confuse the ‘threshold’ levels as ‘caps’, but said that “the meaning of the limitations must be assessed in the context they appear”.
The ASA considered various aspects of the uncapped ADSL claims, and ultimately ruled that the use of the term ‘uncapped’ is not misleading given that Afrihost does not appear to ‘cap’ or disconnect users.
Uncapped ADSL << what do you think it means?
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