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.

This was disputed by Telewest which claimed BT's domestic broadband service was only ten times faster than bog standard Net access.

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. ®