The advertising watchdog has ticked off BTopenworld for describing its unmetered dial-up service, BT Anytime, as "reliable", after users protested that they couldn't use the service.

A number of people complained about a banner ad which read "BT Anytime for a fast, reliable service" after they had problems accessing and using the service.

BTOpenworld provided independent research, which appeared to show that customers were happy with its unmetered Net access product, but the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) still upheld the complaint.

BTopenworld went on to explain that the problem didn't lie with the ISP, but with busy BT telephone exchanges. This, though, was dismissed by the ASA.

In a statement the ASA said: "Because intermittent and ongoing problems were preventing some customers from connecting to the Internet, the Authority considered that the advertisers' claim that their service was reliable was misleading."

BTopenworld has ceased using the banner ad until the problems are resolved.

It's not been a good seven days for BT's Internet division. Last week it was accused of offering an inferior service for its heavy users, claims denied by the ISP. ®

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