Johannesburg, 15 Feb 2006
Telkom`s claims that its ADSL service offers continuous support and supports gaming are misleading, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of SA has ruled. It also partially upheld the complaint that the service is flat rated.
The complaints were lodged by individuals as a result of information advertisements of ADSL on the www.telkom.co.za and www.telkomsa.net sites.
The ASA directorate noted that Telkom`s ADSL service disconnects users every 24 hours and the connection terminates automatically after 60 minutes of inactivity. The directorate said it accepts that a reasonable person would realise the Internet may disconnect after a time with no use. However, there is no mention of any time constraints in the advertisements and therefore no reason to expect such constraints to apply.
It was also noted that the claim that Telkom`s ADSL packages generally support gaming is misleading, as this capability is restricted on at least two ADSL packages.
Telkom claims its DSL service provides "always available flat rated access to the Net". It also states this service offers consumers "from 192kbps to 1024kbps download speeds, depending which of the DSL products suits your needs best".
The directorate agreed with the complainant that Telkom is implying the total cost payable for access to the Internet is flat rated. It is also accepted the eventual cost payable by the user depended on the amount of bandwidth purchased from the Internet service provider.
However, when comparing ADSL to ISDN services, the cost of an ADSL line is a fixed amount, or flat rate, regardless of the number of times the Internet is accessed within the limitations of the package, the directorate said.
That this flat rate "is made up of the cost of the ADSL line plus the cost of the Internet service provider does not change the fact that it is a flat rate", the directorate said. Therefore, referring to the flat rate section of the advertisement, it was declared not misleading in terms of Clause 4.2.1 of Section II of the Code.
Telkom was unable to comment at the time of publication.
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