Consumer W - ISP's must display their pricing correctly!

[BrandonTech.05]

Summary

As of April 10th, 2024, an FCC Ruling has been put in effect that ISP's must show accurate pricing, speeds, and data caps displayed like food labels on a cereal box. (Shown in the spoiler box below)

Spoiler

 

Quotes

Quote

"Today's nationwide launch of the Broadband Consumer Labels means internet service providers are now required to display consumer-friendly labels at the point of sale," the Federal Communications Commission said. "Labels are required for all standalone home or fixed Internet service or mobile broadband plans. Providers must display the label—not simply an icon or link to the label—in close proximity to an associated plan's advertisement."

Quote

"The labels are required now for providers with at least 100,000 subscribers, while ISPs with fewer customers have until October 10, 2024, to comply. "If a provider is not displaying their labels or has posted inaccurate information about its fees or service plans, consumers can file a complaint with the FCC Consumer Complaint Center," an agency webpage says."

My thoughts

This is a huge win for consumer rights. Companies should never have been able to hide pricing for anything and hopefully these labels will minimize hidden fee's. This has been a long time coming with the original plan made in 2022 and I'm glad it is finally implemented. 

I also want to add that the fact that they need to display these like a food label is also just slightly hilarious.

 

Sources

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/04/starting-today-isps-must-display-labels-with-price-speeds-and-data-caps/

https://www.pcmag.com/news/major-isps-required-to-display-nutrition-fact-labels-for-broadband-starting

Edited April 11 by BrandonTech.05
Added Context

[Blasty Blosty]

Guessing this is only in the USA so far?

[IkeaGnome]

2 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Guessing this is only in the USA so far?

“nationwide” “FCC”

4 minutes ago, BrandonTech.05 said:

an FCC Ruling has been put in effect that ISP's must show accurate pricing, speeds, and data caps like food labels on a cereal box.

Just a note, as of now it’s only ISPs with more than 100,000 customers. My ISP still doesn’t have to have any speed information on their site. 

[BrandonTech.05]

3 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Guessing this is only in the USA so far?

I can't speak for other countries and what their policy is. This is a US FCC filing 

[BrandonTech.05]

2 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

“nationwide” “FCC”

Just a note, as of now it’s only ISPs with more than 100,000 customers. My ISP still doesn’t have to have any speed information on their site. 

I added that in as a quote. Thanks!

[Blasty Blosty]

Damn, guess the UK has to wait a little longer for blessings like this

[TempestCatto]

I'd like to see an "ingredients" portion of the label. How much fiber is there really when they claim I have "fiber to the home"

[GoStormPlays]

can't wait to eat some gigabits

34 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Damn, guess the UK has to wait a little longer for blessings like this

well that's a first

 

 

[TetraSky]

If IPSs want to act like children and just keep lying about the services they offer, lets treat them as such and make them do this ridiculous thing.

They've been allowed for way too long to get away with their shady practices.

[GOTSpectrum]

1 hour ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Damn, guess the UK has to wait a little longer for blessings like this

Actually although the way they can display the information is less strict, the UK has very similar laws in pricing and service information 

[MarvinKMooney]

this is amazing.

[Donut417]

I couldnt get a picture of the label because of how it was displayed on their site, But this is the information that is supplied by Xfinity (Comcast). This is the for the 150 Mbps Down 20 Mbps up service tier.

 

[Kisai]

6 hours ago, Donut417 said:

I couldnt get a picture of the label because of how it was displayed on their site, But this is the information that is supplied by Xfinity (Comcast). This is the for the 150 Mbps Down 20 Mbps up service tier.

 

20ms latency is actually terrible, but also kinda typical for cable. 6ms or better is what you should expect from Fiber unless you live in the boonies or are trying to connect to websites on the other side of the country/planet.

Telus Optik, which is GPON, I'm paying for 1.5Gbit, but none of my devices are 2.5Gbit. I know I am able to hit the 1.5Gbit speeds if I have two devices do speed test at the same time though.

 

But this is one of those cases where those kinds of "nutrition labels" should be present, because even though you might be paying for 1 .5Gbit connection, you need hardware with 2.5Gbit or 10Gbit connected directly to the Fiber box's 10Gbit port. Connecting to the other ports only get 1Gbit. It might be fine to connect the TV STB/SmartTV boxes to those ports.

 

Also, it's a bit of a scam to be paying separate fees to "rent" the cable modem. They want people to buy it, but also the technology changes so frequently that if you had to buy it every time they changed stuff on the headend you'd be paying a lot more money. With the Fiber, you just change the SFP+ if they change the technology. I could have even used my older DSL modem which had a SFP port on it.

[GOTSpectrum]

59 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Also, it's a bit of a scam to be paying separate fees to "rent" the cable modem. They want people to buy it, but also the technology changes so frequently that if you had to buy it every time they changed stuff on the headend you'd be paying a lot more money. With the Fiber, you just change the SFP+ if they change the technology. I could have even used my older DSL modem which had a SFP port on it.

For residential connections in the UK they can't charge you rent or to own the hardware, they can however charge a "bond" which is repayable when you return the equipment. 

 

If you have a business connection then they can charge you for the hardware. (Also if they offer multiple hardware options, such as a base model and then a higher end model (think mesh network) they can either offer to sell it to you as an optional extra or rent that extra hardware to you. In practice renting is rarely done any they either sell it to you or give it to you on the bond model as the base hardware but at higher bond. The base model is legally required to be able to operate at the rated speed of the connection no matter what) 

[dogwitch]

it already been shown this week.

layer are wiggle rooming context in parts of the label.

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, Kisai said:

lso, it's a bit of a scam to be paying separate fees to "rent" the cable modem. They want people to buy it,

Actually if the FCC didnt put a rule in place that customer owned equipment was to be supported by cable companies, we wouldn't be able to own our own modems and still will be paying a rental fee. The rental fee is just a way for them to make money. Same as the "Unlimited" data option. Comcast is actually one of the better ISP's to support customer owned modems as they provide a list of retail modems that will work. Some providers it like pulling teeth, as they wont provide any support or information what so ever, and sometimes you have to resort to an FCC complaint to make things work.

[RejZoR]

I wish this was also enforced in my country. All ISP's just furiously advertising their "promo" prices that last for 1 year or so and then you're up to regular prices. It's super annoying when you're trying to change providers and you want to actually know how much you'll be paying the rest of the time.