When you see an advertisement in the UK stating unlimited broadband, do you believe that you can use that broadband connection 24/7 and download as much as you like.?   Wrong…. 

I wrote some time ago about the problems that I have been having with the FUP imposed by my local ISP.  Further investigation into internet providers shows that virtually all ISP’s who advertise UNLIMITED Broadband have an FUP (Fair Use Policy) tucked away in the Terms and Conditions.

I cannot find a single ISP in the UK that offers genuine unlimited broadband. 

As we move further into an interactive world, with online gaming, video on demand, music online, IPTV, MySpace, software purchases being delivered by download, VoIP, software updates, MS authentication, and much much more, the demand for bandwidth will increase substantially.

It would be reasonable to think that ISP’s would be making huge investments in the future and be beavering away to upgrade their ability to service your needs, to maintain the advertised line speeds that you are paying for and to reduce the incredibly high 50 to 1 ratio on their switches which is the average, and doing away with the FUP’s. 

Instead of making these necessary investments, the majority of ISP’s are simply implementing more restrictive FUP’s, taking your money and letting the service levels decrease.

I believe that this could be classed as false advertising.  Unlimited should mean unlimited. 2meg should mean 2 meg, 8 meg should mean 8 meg. 

A large number of UK businesses, across all industry sectors, are pressured by institutional investors to return bigger and bigger profits each year, only look at the bottom line, ignoring the needs of the customer base and losing sight of the service industries that they are in.

ISP’s in Europe have managed to provide good services at prices generally lower than that in the UK, by working on smaller profit margins.

I would therefore be interested in hearing your views and gathering more information so that I can launch a campaign to pressure MP’s, the Advertising Standards Authority, Trading Standards and the Press into getting ISP’s in the UK to provide value for money, and just as importantly, honest advertising.

Ian Parker   ian.parker@parker-joseph.com