Cox Communications Inc. has successfully defended claims it made for its mobile service against a challenge brought to the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs by AT&T Services.
The challenge was the claim of “Unbeatable 5G Reliability” that appeared in a 30-second television commercial and on the Cox Mobile Website.
The ads carried the disclosure that “Cox Mobile runs on the network with unbeatable 5G reliability as measured by Ookla, LLC in the U.S., 1H 2023.”
Cox Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that uses Verizon’s network. NAD, a self-regulatory organization, noted that Cox relied on nationwide 5G reliability from RootMetrics that measured the performance of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. The claims also relied on testing by RootMetrics conducted last October which focused on devices used by Cox Mobile customers. Cox also defended itself with head-to-head reliability testing of Cox Mobile and Verizon.
NAD found that Cox Mobile provided a reasonable basis to support three claims: “Cox Mobile runs on the network with unbeatable 5G reliability”; “We run on the network with unbeatable 5G reliability” and “Cox Mobile runs on the network with unbeatable 5G reliability as measured by Ookla, LLC in the U.S.”
NAD also said that the implied claim that Ookla LLC conducted testing of Cox Mobile’s 5G reliability was supported.
This is not the first time Cox and AT&T squared off via NAD. In October 2022, the group upheld claims made by Cox in television and radio advertising for its Gigablast Internet service against claims made by AT&T. It did; however, advise Cox to make some changes to the advertisements.