Ofcom has told firms to use simpler terms to help customers
When is fibre broadband not fibre broadband? That isn’t a Christmas-cracker joke, but a conundrum Ofcom hopes it has now successfully solved.
It claims for years broadband providers have used the term ‘fibre’ misleadingly and inconsistently. Some use it to describe a fibre connection all the way to the home – ie, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP). But others use it to promote services that offer fibre only to a streetside cabinet (FTTC), from where slower copper cables reach into the home.
The difference in speed is stark – FTTP can hit 1Gbps (gigabit) and more, while FTTC typically peaks at 80Mbps. So it’s clearly ridiculous for providers to use the word ‘fibre’ to describe both. And by also using terms like ‘hybrid-fibre’ for FTTC, they’ve made it even harder for customers to work out what they’re getting.
No wonder the public is baffled. Ofcom research found that more than a quarter (27 per cent) of customers “lacked confidence in understanding the language and terminology used by providers” (see www.snipca. com/48708). More telling is that only 46 per cent of customers who said they had FTTP broadband were actually living in areas where it’s available!
Ofcom aims to clear up this mess with its new guidance for broadband providers. It wants firms to stop using ‘fibre’ as the only word to describe connections. Instead, they should use terms that are “clear and unambiguous”, such as ‘cable’, ‘copper’, ‘full-fibre’ or ‘part-fibre’.
This means FTTP broadband would be called full-fibre – and nothing else – while FTTC broadband would become ‘part-fibre’. ‘Cable’ would refer to coaxial cable used by Virgin, while old networks like ADSL would be called ‘copper’.
This information should be in an “accessible form that is easy to understand” and given to customers “irrespective of how they sign up for a service”. If you purchase broadband online, it will be shown on the provider’s website. If you do so in person or over the phone, details must be shown in the Contract Summary and in the contract itself. The changes must be made by 16 September 2024.
However, the guidance doesn’t cover broadband adverts because this is controlled by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). And this might be a problem.
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