I have never been impressed with the ‘fast’ 3G adverts.  Fast.  Whatever.  Better then edge, but 3G only works ‘sometimes’ for me depending on my location.  So every time I see an advert here in the US I roll my eyes.  Well, lookie here..  This is from ‘The Independent’

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints about a television ad for the iPhone 3G which boasted of the gadget’s “really fast” performance.

The ad stated: “So what’s so great about 3G? It’s what helps you get the news, really fast. Find your way, really fast. And download pretty much anything, really fast. The new iPhone 3G. The internet, you guessed it, really fast.”

The ad showed a close-up of the handset being used to surf a news webpage, view the Google maps service and download a file, with the user waiting just a fraction of a second for each action.

Text on the screen said: “Network performance will vary by location.”.

The ASA said 17 viewers complained that the ad was misleading because it exaggerated the speed of the iPhone 3G.

It (ASA) upheld the complaints, ordering that the ad must not appear again in its current form.

THANK YOU!

Apple defends the advert saying its fast relative to the edge network.  Sure, when its working.  So if I was to calculate the number of times I had to use ‘Edge’ because 3G was not available, lets say 50% of the time, since its not normally worth even trying when I’m getting email, or checking twitter, and lets say 3G is 3x faster, then actual improved performance is only 1.5x.  So even relatively,  It’s NOT … “what helps you get the news, really fast. Find your way, really fast. And download pretty much anything, really fast. The new iPhone 3G. The internet, you guessed it, really fast.”

</rant>