The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc., the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, recommended that VoiceStream Wireless “modify its advertising to more clearly communicate the geographical limitations of its coverage area.”
The recommendation was made after Verizon Wireless challenged the truthfulness of certain advertising for Voice-Stream implying “VoiceStream Minutes” could be used throughout the entire New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area and that those minutes would not be subject to long-distance or digital roaming charges within those areas.
The advertisement featured a map with each of those areas shaded in full, but Verizon contended only portions of New Jersey and Connecticut and less than 20 percent of New York are included in VoiceStream’s coverage area.
VoiceStream said that any risk of consumer misunderstanding was eliminated by the footnote in the advertisement stating, “All air-time quoted is local airtime … for calls made from the VoiceStream home digital service area in the states listed above.”
Verizon contended that the footnote was contradictory to the claim, which implied that the home coverage area is broader than it actually is.
NAD said it was concerned with the size and placement of the footnote and recommended that VoiceStream clearly communicate the geographically limitations of its coverage area.
Verizon also claimed that VoiceStream’s offer of “digital roaming” was misleading because their service was solely on its own network within the home coverage area and therefore is not considered roaming.
VoiceStream argued that they use the claim “Free … digital roaming within NY, NJ and CT” to inform consumers that they can use a handset anywhere VoiceStream provides coverage and place a call within the Tri-state area without incurring an additional charge.
NAD noted that both parties apply different definitions of the term roaming and, as neither party submitted evidence of how consumers interpreted the term, VoiceStream should be permitted to promote their offer of “digital roaming” as long as they clearly communicated what is meant by roaming.
VoiceStream told NAD it would address concerns to more clearly and conspicuously communicate the claims in their advertisements.
