A copper dinosaur walks into Union Square Shopping Centre… as much as this might sound like the opening line of a joke, it’s actually an announcement for the latest stop on the Coppersaurus’ UK road trip.
Brought to life by CityFibre, the dinosaur is touring the UK as part of the full fibre infrastructure provider’s national campaign to make misleading broadband adverts extinct. And fresh from meeting shoppers at Union Square, it will be making its way to the Bon Accord Centre tomorrow and Tuesday (December 3-4), giving locals the chance to find out about misleading broadband ads and the truth about the cables beneath their feet.
Still confused by all the broadband jargon? Well, you’re likely to be in the same boat as other unsuspecting local broadband customers – many of whom are still receiving their internet via aging copper infrastructure but paying a premium for ‘fibre’.
Will Brayne, director of marketing and communications at CityFibre, said: “The Coppersaurus represents the UK’s neglected digital infrastructure and its equally redundant advertising rules. Copper is masquerading as fibre across the UK, leaving us stuck with a relic from the past rather than focusing on the digital connectivity of the future.
“That's why we've brought the campaign to Aberdeen, so residents can help us make sure the practice of advertising copper-reliant connections as fibre gets its very own asteroid moment. It is time the rules were changed once and for all.”
At present, the UK’s advertising rules (enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), do not require advertisers to distinguish between full and part fibre services, despite the services they provide being completely different, both in terms of capability and service.
This means that consumers are often misled into paying for ‘fibre’ internet services, which are in fact only part fibre and not equipped to consistently provide the speeds and services promised, because of the copper in the network slowing them down.
The city has been selected as the first location in Scotland to benefit from a complete full fibre transformation as part of CityFibre’s strategic partnership with Vodafone, which aims to deliver full fibre to five million homes and businesses by 2025.
Over the coming months, CityFibre will continue its work to extend its state-of-the-art digital infrastructure to almost every premises in the city – a futureproofing investment worth at least £40m, which will enable residents and businesses to experience gigabit speeds and limitless bandwidth for the very first time.
If you believe advertising rules should reflect our rapidly developing digital landscape, then you can support CityFibre’s campaign by signing the petition at www.coppersaurus.com.
For more information about CityFibre, visit: www.cityfibre.com
