Comcast reluctantly agrees to cease its deceptive “10G Community” claims

Comcast has reluctantly agreed to discontinue its “Xfinity 10G Community” model title after dropping an attraction of a ruling that discovered the advertising time period was deceptive. It is going to hold utilizing the time period 10G in different methods, nevertheless.

Verizon and T-Cellular each challenged Comcast’s promoting of 10G, a time period utilized by cable firms because it was unveiled in January 2019 by business foyer group NCTA-The Web & Tv Affiliation. We wrote in 2019 that the cable business’s 10G advertising was prone to confuse customers and appeared to be a approach of countering 5G hype generated by wi-fi firms.

10G does not discuss with the tenth technology of a know-how. It’s a reference to potential 10Gbps broadband connections, which might be a lot sooner than the precise speeds on normal cable networks in the present day.

The challenges lodged in opposition to Comcast advertising have been filed with the promoting business’s self-regulatory system run by BBB Nationwide Packages. BBB’s Nationwide Promoting Division (NAD) ruled against Comcast in October 2023, however Comcast appealed to the Nationwide Promoting Evaluation Board (NARB).

The NARB announced its ruling in the present day, agreeing with the NAD that “Comcast ought to discontinue use of the time period 10G, each when used within the title of the service itself (‘Xfinity 10G Community’) in addition to when used to explain the Xfinity community. The usage of 10G in a fashion that isn’t false or deceptive and is according to the panel resolution just isn’t precluded by the panel suggestions.”

“Comcast will discontinue model title”

Comcast agreed to make the change in an advertiser’s assertion that it supplied to the NARB. “Though Comcast strongly disagrees with NARB’s evaluation and strategy, Comcast will discontinue use of the model title ‘Xfinity 10G Community’ and won’t use the time period ’10G’ in a fashion that misleadingly describes the Xfinity community itself,” Comcast stated.

Comcast stated it disagrees with “the advice to discontinue the model title” as a result of the corporate “makes obtainable 10Gbps of Web velocity to 98 p.c of its subscribers upon request.” However these 10Gbps speeds aren’t obtainable in Comcast’s typical service plans and require a fiber-to-the-home connection as an alternative of a normal cable set up.

The Comcast “Gigabit Professional” fiber connection that gives 10Gbps speeds prices $299.95 a month plus a $19.95 modem lease payment. It additionally requires a $500 set up cost and a $500 activation cost.

Comcast stated it could nonetheless use 10G in methods which are much less prone to confuse customers. “In line with the panel’s suggestion… Comcast reserves the best to make use of the time period ’10G’ or ‘Xfinity 10G’ in a fashion that doesn’t misleadingly describe the Xfinity community itself,” the corporate stated.

When contacted by Ars, a Comcast spokesperson stated, “We disagree with the choice however are happy that we’ve got confirmed our continued use of 10G in promoting.”

Comcast claims “not supported”

The NARB stated the “latest availability of 10G speeds by means of [the Gigabit Pro] service tier doesn’t help the superior velocity declare (or a 10Gbps declare) for the Xfinity community as an entire.” Because the NARB famous, there’s an “absence” of information exhibiting what number of Comcast clients really use that service.

The NARB additionally stated that 10G is deceptive due to the implied comparability to 5G wi-fi networks. “The NARB panel concluded that 10G expressly communicates at a minimal that customers of the Xfinity community will expertise considerably sooner speeds than can be found on 5G networks,” the announcement of the ruling stated. “This specific declare just isn’t supported as a result of the file doesn’t comprise any information evaluating speeds skilled by Xfinity community customers with speeds skilled by subscribers to 5G networks.”

Because the NAD has previously stated, 10G is extra of an “aspirational” time period reasonably than one thing that is provided over in the present day’s cable networks. Over the previous 5 years, the NCTA has been utilizing the time period 10G to explain nearly any enchancment to cable networks, whatever the precise speeds.

The NCTA coincidentally issued a press release yesterday hailing the fifth anniversary of its first 10G announcement. “5 years on, the long run is even nearer… Right here in 2024, the promise of 10G is turning into an increasing number of of a actuality,” the NCTA stated.

The announcement listed some examples of multi-gigabit (however not 10-gigabit) cable speeds, a few of which have been solely achieved in lab testing or demos. NCTA claimed that “10G can change lives” and that the “10G platform will facilitate the following nice technological developments within the coming a long time, guaranteeing quick, dependable, and secure networks proceed to energy the American financial system.”

For all of you cable broadband customers, simply bear in mind to disregard “10G” in cable-company advertising and verify the precise speeds you are paying for.