Comcast Shouldn't Boast Of Best WiFi Experience, Watchdog Says

Comcast shouldn't advertise its service as the “best in-home WiFi experience,” an industry watchdog has reiterated.

In a ruling issued this month, a self-regulatory group upheld an earlier decision that Comcast failed to support claims that its in home WiFi broadband offers the best experience.

Comcast said it would comply with the decision.

The ruling stemmed from a challenge by AT&T to Comcast's boasts of offering the best in-home WiFi experience -- which the company made in two commercials and an ad sent by mail.

Last October, the BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division said Comcast hadn't supported the best-experience claim with objective metrics.

“The evidence in the record did not match the broad, unqualified multi-attribute superiority claim, 'Best In-Home WiFi Experience,'” the self-regulatory group wrote last year.

The organization recommended Comcast should either stop making the claim, or “narrowly tailor” it to specific attributes of its WiFi service.

Comcast appealed that decision to the National Advertising Review Board, which ruled against the company.

“Comcast argues that, while not puffery, the term 'experience' is amorphous and hard to define. It argues, accordingly, that Comcast should be entitled to leeway in making a 'best experience' claim,” the appellate panel wrote.

The panel went on to write that in the context of the ads, Comcast's claim about offering the best experience “requires an assessment of consumer views.”

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