The BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD) has released a recommendation today for T-Mobile’s Advertising department. According to its release, they recommend the Un-carrier to discontinue its claims that customers can “save up to 50% vs. National FCC Broadband Rate Benchmark.” This is in reference to T-Mobile Home Internet ads. 

For quite some time now, T-Mobile has been claiming that customers can save up to 50% when they purchase T-Mobile’s service compared to its competitors. 

The recommendation is in reference to T-Mobile’s TV ads where they put an emphasis on “Save Up to 50%” by putting it in bold lettering. Meanwhile, the words “vs. National FCC Broadband Rate Benchmark” is written in smaller font and written underneath the eye catching words. 

The NAD found that this comparison made by T-Mobile is unclear since it only appears on screen for a couple of seconds. At the same time, the term “benchmark” is up for interpretation. Another finding made by the division is that T-Mo’s claim of “Up to 50%” savings is unsupported since only a few customers pay the $105/month rate that the Un-carrier is using as comparison from the benchmark rates set by the FCC. 

As a result of its findings, they recommend that T-Mobile refrain from using these terms:

• “Save Up to 50% vs. National FCC Broadband Rate Benchmark” *”$105/mo (FCC Urban Broadband Rate Survey Reasonable Comparability Benchmark) vs. $50/mo (T-Mobile 5G Home Internet).”
• “Save Up To 50% with T-Mobile Home Internet. Internet bills have you feeling mistreated? Get happy with T-Mobile Home Internet. Save up to 50% compared to the FCC benchmark.”
• “Save Up To 50% compared to 2021 FCC Urban Rate Survey Reasonable Comparability Benchmark,” and “Save Up To 50% Compared to 2022 FCC Urban Rate Survey – Fixed Broadband Service Reasonable Comparison Benchmark. $105/mo w/AutoPay (T-Mobile 5G Home Internet).” 
• And the implied claims that consumers will save up to 50% if they purchase T-Mobile internet versus the same or a comparable service level of internet from other providers (including Charter).

T-Mobile has released an advertiser statement and says that it “agrees to comply with NAD’s recommendations.” The Un-carrier has expressed disagreement with some of these findings yet promise that they “remain a supporter of the self-regulatory process and will take NAD’s recommendations into account in future advertising.”

You can read more about the NAD’s release here.

Source: PRNewswire