Comcast is waving the white flag in its battle to keep its misleading “Xfinity 10G Network” brand name after facing claims of alleged false advertising.
After claiming that its Xfinity 10G Network service was “game-changing,” “self-healing” and “ultra-fast” by seemingly comparing it to 5G, Comcast faced a challenge from T-Mobile last year in February where it questioned those claims and brought forth the issue to the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs.
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After the NAD did not find evidence that supported Comcast’s claim that the “Xfinity 10G Network” is superior to 5G, it recommended on Oct. 12 that Comcast should discontinue its 10G claims and “use ‘10G’ in a manner that is not false or misleading.” In response to that decision, Comcast filed an appeal.
Now, Comcast has lost the appeal as the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) of BBB National Programs agreed with the NAD’s recommendation in a Jan. 31 ruling after Verizon also challenged Comcast’s “10G” claims.
“The NARB panel concluded that 10G expressly communicates at a minimum that users of the Xfinity network will experience significantly faster speeds than are available on 5G networks,” said the NARB in its decision. “This express claim is not supported because the record does not contain any data comparing speeds experienced by Xfinity network users with speeds experienced by subscribers to 5G networks.”
Vadnais Heights, Minn., Xfinity store in local mall.
The NARB panel determined that Comcast should discontinue using the term 10G “when used in the name of the service itself (“Xfinity 10G Network”) as well as when used to describe the Xfinity network.”
In response to the NARB’s decision, Comcast said that “although it strongly disagrees with NARB’s analysis and approach,” it will change its advertising to comply with the panel’s ruling.
10G internet could easily be confused by consumers as an upgrade from 5G when both are very different. 5G stands for 5th generation, and 10G stands for 10 gigabits per second. 5G only relates to cellular network connection, and 10G and is only offered for home internet service. 5G is also faster than 10G as it offers faster downloading speeds.
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