April 10 (UPI) — A new Federal Communications Commission rule went into effect Wednesday that requires internet service providers to simplify their plans in writing with labels to help customers break down costs.
The new document, called the Customer Broadband Label, is much like a nutrition label, highlighting information such as regular rates, discounts, bundles, a plan’s internet speed range, surcharges, and privacy charges.
Some of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be required to display new labels before customers sign up for service plans online or in-store. The FCC currently requires such labels for internet services.
“The FCC borrowed the nutrition label model format from food products to make basic information about broadband internet services easier to recognize and understand,” Alejandro Roark, the FCC’s director of consumer and government affairs, told reporters. Because I wanted to make it into something.”
The new customer broadband label comes after decades of customer complaints about issues such as surprise charges, large increases in monthly bills after promotional offers expire, and calls to consumer service. is.
The FCC said ISPs with fewer than 100,000 subscribers do not have to comply with the new rules until October 10th. The commission said that if a provider does not display their own label or posts inaccurate information about the provider.
