On April 10, the Federal Communications Commission launched an initiative to simplify Internet shopping. Internet providers are now required to list a plan’s key ingredients on their labels, borrowing the format of food nutrition labels.
“The reason people have been pushing this for years is because companies have made it very difficult to understand what you’re actually getting. If you sign up for something for $50 a month, after taxes and fees… It goes to $100 and then it inflates to $200,” Justin Brookman, director of technology policy at Consumer Reports, told CNET. “That was a big problem. That’s why cable companies pretty much resisted it for 10 years.”
Internet providers are notorious for having complex pricing structures. Between Autopay discounts, introductory prices, and hidden fees, you often don’t know what your bill will actually be until it’s too late. I make a living writing about the internet, and sometimes I even have to call my provider directly to find out basic information like upload speeds and price increases. The FCC is trying to eliminate this type of obfuscation.
“The basic idea is that competitive markets work better when consumers have the right information,” said Blair Levin, former FCC chief of staff and communications industry analyst at New Street Research. That means we will,” he told CNET. “It’s a no-brainer to require ISPs to provide this type of minimal information to consumers.”
Sample FCC Broadband Consumer Label for Home Internet and Mobile Broadband Plans.
What you see on the broadband label
The FCC is requiring internet providers with more than 100,000 subscribers to begin displaying the labels starting April 10th. Small providers have until October 10th to display their labels.
“Broadband labels must be displayed at the point of sale,” Alejandro Roark, director of the FCC’s Bureau of Consumer and Governmental Affairs, told CNET. “And it can’t be filled. The price isn’t available, but you have to click on multiple links or click on this little icon that’s hard to miss. It clearly stipulates what must be done.”
Monthly fee
At the top of the label, you’ll see your monthly fee and estimated price increase. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of being an Internet customer. It’s possible that his bill will double in a year or two, but you won’t know until it happens. If you read the fine print, you may be able to figure out the price increase, but many ISPs will simply tell you that once the promotional price ends, you’ll go back to the “current regular rate.”
Broadband labels are trying to take the surprise out of the process by requiring providers to clearly state how long introductory prices last and what they jump to when they end.
That said, it’s better in theory than in practice at this point. We looked at several major internet providers and found very few that adhered to the FCC’s vision.
Spectrum (left) and Frontier (right) both advertised prices not listed on their broadband labels.
For example, Spectrum charges $30 per month for 24 months for its Internet 100 plan. But when I open the broadband label, it shows a monthly fee of $60 and no introductory rate. Frontier had the same problem. The Fiber 200 plan was advertised as $30 per month, but the broadband label said it was $40.
additional fee
Here you will see all charges related to your internet plan. The majority of this is equipment fees, which are broken down into modem and router rental fees. If applicable, installation fees and early termination fees may also be listed here.
However, these can also be misleading. For example, Spectrum shows installation fees ranging from $30 to $65 on all labels, but when you check out, it says installation is free.
discounts and bundles
This section was pretty much the same for all the ISPs I looked at. Follow the link for more information about discounts you can get when you add things like cell phone and TV service to your internet plan.
speed
There are three factors listed here: typical download speed, typical upload speed, and latency. Roark said internet providers are responsible for reporting this information themselves, and the FCC does not review the information for accuracy.
The speed information I saw varied from provider to provider, and in some cases left me with more questions than answers. For example, Spectrum lists its Internet 100 plan as “up to 100Mbps,” but the label says typical download speeds are “100Mbps or higher.”
Meanwhile, AT&T Fiber lists typical download speeds of 398Mbps and upload speeds of 381.7Mbps for its 300Mbps plan. AT&T told CNET that these numbers were collected from internal tools.
Contains data
Data caps are a thing of the past for most internet plans, but providers that still have them must spell out exactly what those limits are, along with any fees you’ll incur if you exceed them. You will be charged for additional data usage. Typically, it costs $10 or $15 for each data over 50 GB.
Legal information and customer support
The remaining sections are primarily reserved for legal disclaimers. Click the link to learn more about your ISP’s network management and privacy policies (if you think that’s a good time).
There was also a customer support spot, with a phone number listed on every label I saw. This is more important than you think. ISPs often make contact information incredibly difficult to trace.
How is the broadband label applied?
Internet providers are not required to submit labels to the FCC for approval before displaying them on their sites. The agency relies primarily on third-party advocacy groups and consumers themselves to ensure that the information displayed on broadband labels is accurate.
“As with many of the agency’s enforcement actions, we really rely on the consumer complaint process,” Roark said. “Now that this rule has officially come into effect, we are monitoring and ensuring that there is an extensive national consumer awareness campaign to ensure that consumers are aware of this requirement and what to expect from the label. I will work on it.”
If you find that your provider is not displaying labels or has inaccurate information about their plans, you can file a complaint with the FCC Consumer Complaint Center.
conclusion
Broadband consumer labels are a much-needed step toward removing confusion from Internet shopping. But while ISPs may technically post labels on their sites, the information on the labels often directly contradicts what’s being advertised on the same page. There’s still a long way to go before consumers can easily compare plans, but that’s to be expected on day one.
“I hope the FCC revisits this every two years, every four years, gets industry comment, gets consumer comment, and improves it over time,” Levin told CNET. . “It should be something achievable. It should be one of his primary jobs at the FCC.”
