A recent exchange in the advertising world has gone something like this:
Comcast XFINITY: "It's official. We're the fastest."
The Better Business Bureau: Nope!
Truth-in-advertising watchdogs at the BBB have recently pushed back against Comcast's claim that its XFINITY Internet service is the most blazingly fast thing around. Comcast has been talking up that claim because of a PC Magazine survey last year, but the BBB's National Advertising Division says Comcast is glossing the truth a little bit. (h/t The Consumerist.)
Basically, Comcast XFINITY is the fastest Internet option in most places where it's available. In fact, it's the fastest option in 94 percent of places where it exists. Nothing to sneeze at. But in the other 6 percent, it's competing with Verizon's FiOS offering -- and FiOS is faster.
NAD issued a statement on Tuesday, urging Comcast to stop making "unqualified" boasts about being the fastest Web service in America. In response, Comcast said that it will "take NAD's recommendations into account in formulating its future advertising."
Verizon comes out looking good here, but it was only a few months ago that the Big V was fielding false-advertising charges of its own.
In December, Cablevision sued Verizon, claiming that Verizon was citing outdated, inaccurate numbers to badmouth Cablevision's performance speeds in a series of TV, radio and online ads. The case was eventually settled for an unknown amount.