National Advertising Division Recommends T-Mobile Discontinue “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout Speed” Claim for T-Mobile Home Internet Service

New York, NY – April 25, 2023 – In a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge brought by Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs recommended that T-Mobile discontinue the “Don’t you worry ‘bout speed” claim in reference to T-Mobile’s Home Internet (T-HINT) service. 

Fast-Track SWIFT is an expedited challenge process designed for single-issue advertising cases brought to NAD. NAD determined that the Comcast challenge was appropriate for Fast-Track SWIFT because it presented the single issue as to whether T-Mobile’s claim “Don’t you worry ‘bout speed” is supported.

T-HINT operates on the same wireless network that T-Mobile smartphones run on, and thus does not use a wired infrastructure to deliver internet. Customers are provided a gateway device that acts as a router and modem which converts T-Mobile’s signal to WiFi and provides a WiFi signal to devices in the home.

After considering the messages reasonably conveyed by the challenged commercial, NAD determined that, given the context which offers T-HINT as an alternative to fixed wired internet, the “Don’t you worry ‘bout speed” claim conveys a message that consumers can get the speed they need to do whatever they want on the internet without limitation.  

In addition, NAD determined that  T-Mobile’s unqualified “Don’t you worry ’bout speed ” claim    conveys the message that internet speeds are sufficient to provide worry-free internet service that will allow users to perform nearly all typical activities on the internet, including intensive uses like gaming or streaming on multiple devices at any time of day.. 

NAD found that T-Mobile’s evidence was not a good fit for its broad unqualified performance claim “Don’t you worry ‘bout speed” and recommended that it be discontinued with respect to T-Mobile’s T-HINT service. 

In its advertiser statement, T-Mobile stated that it “will comply with NAD’s recommendations, but strongly disagrees with NAD’s determination that the challenged commercial communicates an unsubstantiated message.” 

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive.

 

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