The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs recommended that Comcast drop and modify some claims it made about T-Mobile’s fixed wireless offering known as T-Mobile Home Internet. The recommendation came in response to a request from T-Mobile.
The recommendation relates to an ad for Comcast Xfinity service labeled “Nocturnal,” which suggested that T-Mobile Home Internet may become unstable during the day. According to NAD, that claim is not supported, and the watchdog organization recommended that Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC discontinue two claims
One claim was that “Everyone is online during the day, so we lose speeds.” The other was “Well if you just switch, maybe you don’t have to be vampires.”
The NAD recommendation came just weeks after the advertising watchdog intervened in a different dispute involving T-Mobile Home Internet and Comcast. In that dispute, Comcast and Charter challenged T-Mobile Home Internet ads, arguing that they implied stronger performance than the service actually provided, and NAD agreed.
The new NAD recommendation, in large part, turns the tables on Comcast.
NAD Recommendations
NAD recommended that Comcast discontinue several implied claims:
- “Daily periods of congestion on T-Mobile’s network last until 2 a.m.”
- “T-Mobile is not sufficiently fast or reliable to be used during daytime hours”
- “T-Mobile Home Internet customers need to switch to Xfinity in order to access reliably fast internet service during the day”
- “T-Mobile’s order of prioritization of mobile customers materially renders T-Mobile Home Internet unusable except in the dead of night”
- “As a general matter, slower speeds under certain conditions described in T-Mobile’s disclaimers and disclosures reflect typical consumer experience using T-Mobile Home Internet”
Another Xfinity ad to which T-Mobile objected is labeled “Bridwatchers.” NAD found that while Comcast did not demonstrate that online gaming using T-Mobile Home Internet would be impacted by latency on the T-Mobile network, there is evidence that lag could be an issue for some gamers. This, NAD found, supported the claim that “T-Mobile fixed home internet customers experience 2-4x the latency of wired internet customers.”
Since not all gaming would be affected on T-Mobile Home Internet, NAD recommended that Xfinity drop three claims:
- T-Mobile Home Internet “lags and it throws the whole thing off”
- “Getting Xfinity is the “adult” thing to do
- “INTERNET ISSUES?” “If ONLY THEY HAD XFINITY”
It also suggested discontinuing two implied claims:
- T-Mobile Home Internet lags too much to be useful for gaming
- T-Mobile Home Internet customers need to switch to Xfinity in order to enjoy gaming
T-Mobile also challenged information on the “TMo Facts” page of the Xfinity website that claimed to compare the two services. NAD recommended that Comcast modify claims that its services can be as much as 36 times faster than T-Mobile Home Internet. It also recommended that the basis of the claim be in a similar font size and proximity to the claim.
However, it found that the claims that “storms, mountains and cars – being inside – can affect your speed” is consistent with T-Mobile’s own disclaimer and therefore is substantiated. Conversely, NAD recommended that the claim that T-Mobile Home Internet is “Bad Internet” be discontinued.
