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Vodafone ticked off by ASA for femtocell ad

An ad touting the merits of Vodafone's Sure Signal mobile phone reception booster are at the heart of the telling off.

By Stewart Mitchell, 16 Jun 2010 at 10:37

The Advertising Standards Authoirty (ASA) has slapped Vodafone's wrists over claims made in its Sure Signal femtocell ad, following complaints from rivals T-Mobile and O2 as well as consumers.

The Sure Signal device uses home broadband connections to improve mobile reception in dead spots and the ad boasted that "Only Vodafone can guarantee mobile signal in your home."

The ASA upheld four out of seven complaints about the advert, saying that it did not make it clear enough that consumers needed a 1Mbps broadband connection to operate the service.

The ASA also said the company could not substantiate claims that the service would work for 99 per cent of the population because it was unclear whether such a high percentage of homes could receive high enough bandwidth speeds to run the femtocell service.

“We noted the device would permit consumers to make a single voice call at a broadband speed of 64Kbits/sec,” the ASA said in its ruling.

“We understood Vodafone's assertion that 64Kbits/sec was attainable by over 99% of the population in off-peak times, but noted that the survey sampled over 22,000 households and its conclusions did not necessarily indicate that over 99% of the entire UK population would have access to a broadband connection with a speed to allow a femtocell to operate.”

The company has been told that the advert must not be run again in its current form.

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