It has been interesting to see the latest Virgin Media ads for its broadband services. There seems to be little question that Virgin Media’s cable network will provide faster connections than its main rival BT over time. BT is struggling to get anywhere near the 40 or 50mbps Virgin Media are talking about doing at some point. Their latest ads have started to set this tone.

BUT, they are also misleading. I wasn’t surprised to find out that BSkyB had complained about them to the Advertising Standards Authority until I realised they had only complained about Virgin’s claim the network was fibre optic (it isn’t.. at least not the last 500m). The line that got me was You’ll find watching YouTube is just like watching the telly and it implied that the quality was better than that provided by other broadband providers. Sorry – but last time I checked YouTube was nothing like TV.. whether I am on Virgin Media or some other provider. It would be great if it was!

Of course from Virgin’s perspective any debate over these adverts is only going to help them get over the message that they will be faster than others 😉