30 June 2005
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has criticised BT Communicator for claiming its VoIP service allows consumers to make "free" calls.
BT had claimed that customers could enjoy "free calls for a year", but this was challenged by a consumer in Kent.
It was noted that the free UK calls used up subscribers' one gigabyte a month download limit, if they were on the BT Broadband Basic package.
This meant that in order to use the broadband for other things, such as using the internet, additional download allowances needed to be purchased at a cost.
The ASA said: "The Authority was concerned that, although the promotion offered 'free calls', those calls depleted the monthly usage allowance that a broadband customer paid for on a monthly basis as part of their broadband package."
BT apologised for the slip in its promotional material, but stressed it had not been its intention to mislead.
The telecoms giant said it "had not intended to charge customers for the service, but they had not fully considered the impact of usage allowances on the ability to make free calls".
BT will now change future advertising in order to reflect this condition.
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