• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, February 1, 2024

Comcast, which just one year ago rebranded its home broadband service as XFinity 10G Network, now says it will stop using "10G"  in the name.

The company's move comes at the recommendation of a five-member panel of the ad industry's self-regulatory watchdog, which found Comcast's use of “10G” problematic for two reasons. First, the panel unanimously held that “10G” expressly conveys the network will offer “significantly faster” speeds than 5G networks. Second, a majority of the panel concluded that “10G” conveys connections at speeds of 10 Gigabits per second.

Neither of those claims were supported by Comcast, the National Advertising Review Board of the BBB National Programs said in a decision released this week.

“The record does not contain any data comparing speeds experienced by Xfinity network users with speeds provided to subscribers to 5G networks,” the panel wrote.

The watchdog added that only a “very small” proportion of Xfinity customers subscribe to a plan that offers connections at 10 Gigabits per second.

“In the absence of actual Xfinity Gigabit Pro service tier market usage data, the recent availability of 10G speeds through that service tier does not support the superior speed claim (or a 10 Gbps claim) for the Xfinity network,” the panel wrote. “It appears that only a very small percentage of consumer subscribers to the Xfinity network have signed up for the Gigabit Pro service, and Comcast has not disclosed the actual percentage, even in the confidential portion of the record.”

The decision, issued by a five-member panel, stemmed from a challenge to Comcast's new name by Verizon, which argued that the use of 10G was confusing to consumers. In October, the National Advertising Division of the BBB National Programs recommended that Comcast discontinue the use of 10G in the brand name.

Comcast then appealed to the National Advertising Review Board.

The watchdog reported that Comcast “strongly disagrees” with the panel's analysis, but will follow its recommendation. Comcast also reportedly said it reserves the right to use 10G or Xfinity 10G “in a manner that does not misleadingly describe the Xfinity network itself.”