Ad watchdog: Cablevision Internet not 'fastest'

NEW YORK -- Cablevision Systems should stop saying its Internet service is "the fastest around," the advertising industry's self-regulatory body said Thursday, in response to complaints from competitor Verizon Communications.

Cablevision should also stop saying it has "America's most advanced fiber optic network," the National Advertising Division Council of Better Business Bureaus said. Like other cable companies, Cablevision uses optical fiber in its network but connects homes with coaxial cable, not optical fiber.

Verizon's new FiOS service, which competes with Cablevision in New York and New Jersey, does draw optical fiber all the way to homes. Cable companies around the country have been claiming in ads that their networks "are fiber" as a way to counter Verizon's marketing.

The NAD said Cablevision was free to say it has an "advanced hybrid fiber optic network."

Cablevision said it would take the NAD's opinions into account for future advertising. Spokesman Jim Maiella noted that the NAD supported Cablevision's claim that its cable modems are up to five times faster than Verizon's DSL service, which predates FiOS.

Cablevision's Optimum Online Internet service has a maximum download speed of 30 megabits per second. FiOS can do 50 megabits per second.

Cablevision challenged Verizon's advertising claims for FiOS last year. The NAD recommended, among other things, that Verizon stop claiming that FiOS produced a TV picture that's "so much more bright." The brightness of a TV picture depends on the settings of the TV, not on the signal.

Verizon was also sued last week by the state of New Jersey, which said the company charged consumers higher prices for FiOS than those quoted in door-to-door solicitations and ads. Verizon has disputed the allegations.