• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer, October 9, 2014

Last year, CenturyLink complained to the National Advertising Division about ads by the rival Internet service provider Comcast.

The NAD, a self-regulatory unit administered by the Better Business Bureau, responded by telling Comcast to revise ads touting its “triple-play” broadband-TV-phone service.

Specifically, the NAD told Comcast to clarify that a $99-per-month price, mentioned in some ads, is only the introductory fee. The NAD added that Comcast should tweak any ads that imply its triple-play broadband service connection is faster than the top broadband speeds offered by CenturyLink.

But the battle between the two companies didn't end there. Comcast also filed its own complaint with the NAD about ads by CenturyLink.

Now, the NAD is siding with Comcast, and directing CenturyLink to revise ads boasting that its service is significantly faster than Comcast's.

Some of those CenturyLink ads brag of broadband connections up to 13 times faster than Comcast's. The problem, according to the NAD, is that those ads compare Century Link's fastest tier of service (40 Mbps) to Comcast's slowest “economy” tier (3 Mbps).

The NAD said in its opinion that consumers might not understand that the ads compared different types of service plans. “A reasonable consumer would have no way of knowing that the comparison is between CenturyLink’s fastest level of service and Comcast’s slowest tier of service (which is not even widely subscribed to),” the opinion states.

The NAD also noted that CenturyLink ran ads in areas where its fastest tier of service wasn't available. Those ads should be modified to include the disclaimer that speeds of up to 40 Mbps might not be available in consumers' area, the NAD said.

Comcast and CenturyLink are hardly the only Internet service providers to complain about each other's ads to the NAD. Verizon has also challenged broadband ads by Comcast as well as Cablevision.

Despite the various disputes about the advertised speeds of broadband, it's not clear that anyone -- consumers or businesses that rely on the Web -- can count on providers delivering traffic at the speeds they promise, especially DSL providers.

Meanwhile, CenturyLink said it disagrees with some NAD recommendations, but will take them into account, according to the opinion. The company added that it hopes that “all industry competitors will also abide by the guidance set forth in this decision.”