The Advertising watchdog has mauled BT for a misleading broadband ad.

The monster telco claimed that its domestic broadband service was 40 times faster than a traditional dial-up service.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed adding that BT's faster services - up to 2 Mbps - were geared at business users and not home users.

In a statement, Telewest said BT had been "caught speeding" with advertising about a domestic Internet service claiming to be 40 times faster than dial-up access when, in reality, it is only up to ten times quicker.

Said David Hobday, S&M director at Telewest Broadband: "BT's been caught trying to pull a fast one. Consumers are having a hard enough time getting their heads round broadband, without BT getting its sums wrong."

Two other complaints - including one brought by the pressure group Broadband4Britain - concerning broadband coverage in the UK were thrown out by the ASA. ®