Rain gets another brolly good scolding for exaggerating its torrents

First it rained for SA’s foremost 5G network when the ad watchdog told it to stop saying it offers high download speeds or that its unlimited data is continuously available.

Now it’s poured, with a ruling by the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) appeals committee that Rain’s belated attempts to calm the storm were less than convincing.

The graphs it submitted in an attempt to have the ban lifted were prepared by its own employees and supported only by an observation that they “look relevant and plausible”.

This comment came from someone who could not be regarded as an independent and credible expert, the appeals committee, chaired by senior counsel Daniel Berger, said this week.

It threw out Rain’s appeal and lifted the suspension of the board’s sanction, meaning the company must immediately stop making unsubstantiated or misleading claims in its advertising.

The original complaint about Rain came from Suvasin Moodley, who said the company’s online advertising was misleading because it promoted a choice of internet speeds. In his experience, the variability was so great it was impossible even to conduct a speed test.

Similarly, it mentioned a choice of streaming quality, but the connection was so poor that effectively there was no choice.

Moodley also complained about a second Rain ad promoting “average network download speeds over 200 megabits per second”. He said this was impossible to verify because “the network drops completely and there is no stability throughout the day”.

The ad’s claim of “unlimited 24/7 home wifi” was also untrue, he said, because the network failed so often that it was “unusable” for streaming or working online.

In its response, Rain said the unlimited data offer was true because its 5G plans did not charge for every gigabyte downloaded.

It said its offer of a choice of network speeds was also true. “There are two different 5G plans: Unlimited Home 5G Standard with speeds of up to 30Mbps and Unlimited Home 5G Premium with the average network download speeds of 200Mbps,” it said.

For Rain’s appeal, legal technology strategist Rustum Fortune tabled graphs prepared by company staff, with a statement by Christech CEO Christopher Geerdts that they “look relevant and plausible”.

But the appeals committee said nothing was known about Christech, “least of all whether it is regarded by others in the telecommunications sector as an independent, credible expert in 5G network analysis. It appears from its name that it might simply be the alter ego of Mr Geerdts.”

Company records show that Geerdts is the sole director of Christech, which is based at his home in Constantia, Cape Town.

The graphs were also based on data collected after the appearance of the misleading ad — in contravention of the advertising code — and in only one location.

“Mr Fortune acknowledged that some customers have complained about poor network availability,” said the appeals committee finding.

“He said that Rain’s technicians had advised customers to move their router around their homes to find the location that provides the best network connection.

“Mr Moodley confirmed at the hearing that this was also his experience with Rain’s technicians. He stated that he had tested his router at various locations in Johannesburg, Sandton, Randburg and Midrand, all without success.

“He even had difficulties in maintaining a continuous connection in the Sandton CBD. It seems that these difficulties are not limited to Mr Moodley and his router.”

The committee said a reasonable consumer would expect a network professing to be available “24/7” to remain operational at all times. “There is nothing unreasonable nor business-like about such an expectation,” it said.

But Rain argued that “unlimited data 24/7" referred only to it offering uncapped data.

The committee said: “We find that the claim of ‘unlimited data 24/7’ is ambiguous and exaggerated to such an extent that it is likely to mislead the consumer.”