Misleading broadband advertising?

I think all advertising is misleading to a greater or lesser degree. And as long as the advertiser affixes the term "Terms and conditions apply" they can pretty much get away with most of it....
 
I think all the local providers are just out to find the most eloquent way to extort the average client. No surprise.
 
I don't know if it can really be considered misleading... it's not really their problem if Joe Average doesn't know that 2500MB is more or less 2.5GB; they're not lying about anything, though they probably are out to confuse people. Tough one.
 
I think it is clever advertising.
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I think its deception. Its the same tactic employed by iBurst in their 40Meg broadband offering. Most people, it's sad to say, have no idea what you are talking about when you start spouting about GB and MB. The number of times I have had to explain simple copy and paste procedures, or how to download a file or any number of things most people on this site do with their eyes closed, is unbelievable. So yes, I think Neotel is taking advantage of people's ignorance.
 
give them a break guys...it's not their fault that the product is below average and can't sell itself.
 
If you are going to purchase something in life ensure you that you research it.

I, and probably a whole bunch of you, really couldn't care much for some gran who is deceived by a radio advert because she does not know better.

The only way to fix that kind of stupid is to sell recharge vouchers. :p
 
I love it when they advertise a 384 kbps line as being able to get 384kb/s download speeds.
Someone needs to tell them the difference between bits and bytes.
 
lol,

You know what they say..... Ignorance is bliss :p
 
Currently Neotel is running an interesting advertisement along a similar theme and that is all around the cap. You can download as many songs as you like because the cap is 2500 meg. If you listen quickly it sounds huge. After all, the other broadband connection suppliers only offer 2Gig, 3Gig and 4Gig caps. Sounds so little compared to Neotel’s 2500 Meg! Is Neotel misleading the public by using an uncommon format when stating the cap size or are they using poetic license? I think it is clever advertising.
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Clever? Pfft! If PnP or Checkers offered peaches at R12.99 per 1000g (vs Spar's R12.99 per kg), would you think they are clever or misleading?

TMoose said:
I don't know if it can really be considered misleading... it's not really their problem if Joe Average doesn't know that 2500MB is more or less 2.5GB; they're not lying about anything, though they probably are out to confuse people. Tough one.
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Damn right it is misleading! Yes it is not "their problem" if the Average Joe is ignorant but they are taking advantage of that ignorance. They should educate their customers, not rip them off. Because for sure the customer will realize, sooner rather than later, that he has been ripped off. And hopefully, he will remember by whom and never do business with that company again. A happy customer is a customer for life. But these ass grabbing, backstabbers have no clue about that.

And then on another level. In my opinion it is unethical to do business like this. But then it took laws before the furniture stores aimed at the lower end market told (almost) the full story of their credit offerings. So I don't expect much more from the internet and computer hawkers.

Ethics? :confused:
 
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The problem is everyone is offering the "same" service they just trying to sell it differently

That why places like MyADSL are around to cut the "crap"!

There should be a minimum of what needs to be included in any internet based advert.

IE - Download & Upload speeds as well as the internet cap. how they tell the cap is up to them - people need to be more informed when buying.
 
I've repeatedly complained about the Cybersmart advert on Cape Talk that offers their "384 Kilo BYTES" special when in fact it's BITS. Cape Talk doesn't see the difference and continued to run the advert for six months. They didn't care about threats of going to the ASA (and in truth I was to lazy to bother).
 
biometrics said:
I've repeatedly complained about the Cybersmart advert on Cape Talk that offers their "384 Kilo BYTES" special when in fact it's BITS. Cape Talk doesn't see the difference and continued to run the advert for six months. They didn't care about threats of going to the ASA (and in truth I was to lazy to bother).
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There was an advert for water purifiers on Cape Talk that claimed that it "cured" various ailments (I forget now). I went to the ASA and the company was asked by the ASA to prove their claim. They produced some self serving "research" but no luck, ASA told them to pull the advert. It wasn't a lot of hassle from my side. I just had to write an email about my "concern" about the claims.

So you should do it next time. :)
 
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TheShogun said:
I love it when they advertise a 384 kbps line as being able to get 384kb/s download speeds.
Someone needs to tell them the difference between bits and bytes.
Click to expand...

Cybersmart does this in their radio ad on the tune of Nkosi Sikilel iAfrika.
I wonder if one could hold them to it?
 
People who write adverts are in the business of deception and misdirection. There's so much advertising around, you have to stand out and try trick someone to pay attention to your product.

Image if Sony decided to advertise their digital cameras as 8200 Kilopixels.

For some reason, Neotel thinks they are competing with the cellular operators because their service is 'mobile'. So i bet the 2500MB is aimed at 500MB 3G subscribers. Problem is they have less coverage than SABC has in Yemen.
 
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