MWEB ordered to remove misleading ad

MWEB has been ordered to remove a misleading ad for fibre internet because customers have to buy an extra router if they want to enjoy the full speed of the deal on offer.

Johan Kruger complained about the online advertisement for 200GB data at 200mbps for R1‚229 per month. The deal includes a free router‚ installation and connection.

He argued the advertisement is misleading. He said customers get a “free router” when they sign up‚ but the fine print tells a different story. It says the free router can only provide a speed of 100mbps. Customers have to buy an extra router for R1‚500 if they want 200mbps internet.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the complaint.

In their ruling on Friday‚ they compared the advertisement to a car advertisement which offers a free set of spare wheels.

“One would expect that the spare wheels would be for the car being advertised‚ and not for some other car.”

MWEB hit back and said the advertisement states: “Free router only support speeds up to 100Mbps on LAN and up [to] 40Mbps over WiFi.”

They argued that the router was free and it was up to the customer if they wanted to buy the extra router.

MWEB said they would change the advertisement by inserting an asterisk next to the “Free Router” claim to alert customers about the router’s limitation.

The ASA ruled this is insufficient and said reasonable customers would expect a free router in relation to the 200mbps offer.

“It is misleading to offer consumers a router that is irrelevant and incompatible with the product that they want.”

When TimesLIVE visited MWEB’s website on Sunday‚ the advertisement was still online.