[hatedbythemail]

Originally Posted by trebor

that link gives me
http://media.guardian.co.uk/subscribe

sorry, didn't realise you had to be a confirmed red-under-the-bed-pinko-liberal-do-gooder to read that :-)

It reads:

"The advertising watchdog has ruled that companies marketing 8Mb broadband services will have to make very clear that top speeds will "vary significantly" depending on where customers live, following a complaint from NTL against rival Bulldog.

The ruling, relating to a TV and press campaign by Bulldog for a broadband service of "up to 8Mb", is extremely significant in the ultra-competitive market for high-speed internet.
Until now, broadband companies have been allowed to claim in their advertising that they can provide broadband "up to" a particular speed.
With guaranteed cable delivery of broadband to the home, NTL can deliver high-speed 8Mb with little degradation of service. However, rivals such as Bulldog suffer a significant drop in speeds the further customers live away from exchanges.
Following the ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority, ads will have to admit that top speeds "vary significantly".
This is likely to be beneficial to the likes of NTL, one of three complainants, as high-speed 8Mb services are leading to more video streaming, file-sharing and online gaming.
NTL provided figures that showed broadband speed fell as the length of line between a local exchange and a customer's home increased.
The company said broadband speeds of 8Mb could be achieved only by people who lived within 3km from an exchange.
The 35% of people who lived more than 3.8km from an exchange, for example, would get at best a 5Mb connection. In a ruling that will affect many broadband operators, the ASA asked Bulldog to indicate prominently in future ads that top speeds varied significantly, in particular because of a user's distance from their local exchange."