Mobile phone ads "poor" says Three chief Kevin Russell

bealtine

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10477381.stm
The head of mobile network Three has criticised the way in which phone tariffs are advertised.

Kevin Russell's comments follow a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against rival network Orange.

Orange had claimed in a press advert that its 3G network "covers more people in the UK than any other operator".

"As an industry our marketing standards are poor and it has led to cynicism," he said.

Orange's claim was challenged by Hutchison 3G which runs the combined Three/T-mobile network.

ASA ruled in favour of Hutchison and said the advert was misleading because it was not clear whether the claim referred to coverage in terms of population numbers or geographical area, in which Hutchison 3G is larger.
Continue reading the main story

One of the dumbest things I've done is talk about 'unlimited' data when it's not

Kevin Russell Chief Executive, Three

Analyst Ian Fogg at Forrester Research said the ruling was likely to be the first of many.

"There will be a debate about this," he told BBC News.

"It's much harder to measure or communicate how good an operator's 3G network is than it would be for home broadband.

"Network coverage can vary based on signal strength and whether it works indoors, but performance works on the number of people using a network as well."

That is more likely to be "unpredictable" for a mobile network, he said.

ASA Chief Executive Guy Parker told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme that it now intends to investigate the terms under which packages can claim to offer "unlimited" data downloads

"The market has evolved quite a lot in the last few years particularly with the popularity of mobile broadband. We think it's a good time to have a look at that policy, see if it's fit for purpose," he said.

Kevin Russell at Three said he regretted using the term "unlimited" to describe data packages as it was not "the reality of the market place".

"One of the dumbest things I've done is talk about 'unlimited' data when it's not," he said.

e-sull

haha thats a good one...! three complaining about advertising standards.. i know this is based on three uk but in essence it is one big company so maybe they should have a look at whats advertised by three and compare it to what their customers get... cant imagine their uk network is much better than ours.. :mad:

watty

More misleading advertising and dodgy Marketing in UK.

Can the same guys here (and Meteor/eircom) be any better here? Or given what ASAI and Comreg are like (Light Touch Regulation, Market Forces etc) worse?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10618236

In secret shopper tests, the Communications Consumer Panel found that over half of shoppers were given inaccurate information.

It also found that some firms allow cancellations due to coverage issues while others do not.

The panel called on mobile firms to offer consistent guidelines.

Panel chair Anna Bradley said that consumers must be given simple and accurate information before locking themselves into contracts that they might not be able to leave for up to two years.

watty

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/14/mobile_workshop_roundup/

Mobile overwhelmed.

bealtine

watty wrote: »

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/14/mobile_workshop_roundup/

Mobile overwhelmed.

Mobile phone advertising is disgraceful, actually telecom advertising is generally dishonest in the extreme and should be changed.

I think IoffL should start an "honesty in advertising" campaign...

clohamon

bealtine wrote: »

Kevin Russell at Three said he regretted using the term "unlimited" to describe data packages as it was not "the reality of the market place".

"One of the dumbest things I've done is talk about 'unlimited' data when it's not," he said.

Maybe in this spirit of honesty, 3 Ireland CEO, Robert Finnegan can tell us his dumbest, most incredible claim too.