Broadband Labels Will Make It Easier to Compare Home Internet Prices
New FCC rules require internet providers to display easy-to-read, nutrition-style labels wherever they advertise plans
When you sign up for internet service, you can’t always be sure what it will cost until the first bill arrives. That’s because of extra fees that aren’t included in the advertised price, even if they show up somewhere in the fine print. It can be particularly tough to figure out how much your internet costs if you get it bundled with cable TV or phone service.
That’s all about to change, as the Federal Communications Commission this week finalized new rules that require internet service providers (ISPs) to display easy-to-read, nutrition-style labels wherever they promote their internet plans. A similar-looking broadband label was adopted by the FCC back in 2016—it was a measure that Consumer Reports pushed for—but the rule requiring ISPs to use them never went into effect.
Now that the labels are coming, it should become much, much easier to comparison shop for a better deal, provided you’re fortunate enough to live in an area that has more than one provider.
What the Broadband Label Says
Under the new FCC rules, the broadband label will have to appear anywhere that internet service is advertised or can be purchased, including on ISP websites, retail locations, and in marketing materials. You’ll also be able to find it when you log into your own ISP account.
Source: FCC Source: FCC
As you can see, the design is modeled after food nutrition labels, and in concept it’s also similar to the window stickers you see in new cars. The labels will tell you the name of the plan or the service tier (speed) that it’s describing, along with the base price, and whether it’s just an introductory rate.
You’ll also be able to see any extra charges that would appear on your bill. You’ll get information like whether you need to sign a contract to get the listed rate, and links to any discounts you can get. That would include bundle deals when you combine services, paperless billing, and autopay discounts.
The label will also list some details of the service that could be trickier to understand, including the following.
• Typical download and upload speeds, and latency. Download speeds are how fast content, such as a streaming movie, will move from the web to your home.
Conversely, upload speeds are how fast you can send data, such as a photo from your device, out to the web. If you have a fiber-optic connection, those speeds could be the same or similar. But for many consumers, they’re very different. People typically care more about download speeds, but uploads are important too, especially for Zoom and other teleconferencing applications.
Latency (sometimes also called "ping") refers to how much time it takes for your internet connection to respond to your actions. If you’re watching a movie, that doesn’t matter much, but it’s important for other activities, especially online gaming.
• Whether the ISP participates in the Affordable Connectivity Program. The initiative offers a discount of up to $30 a month on internet service to eligible households.
• Whether there’s a data cap. Some plans limit the amount of data that can be used each month. If you surpass it, you’ll get charged based on how much extra data you use, usually $10 or $15 for each 50GB of data you use.
You’ll also see links to the ISP’s privacy policy and its network management practices, which includes information on when the company may slow down (throttle) or even block some customers’ internet service during peak usage times.
The FCC is requiring the labels to be machine-readable, meaning that they’ll be in a form that can be analyzed by computer, not just by hand. That’s something CR and other consumer groups strongly recommended. This will let regulators, researchers, consumer advocates, and others use automated methods to track pricing across hundreds of ISPs, potentially making it easier for consumers to compare prices and services in their communities.
Labels Not Included on Monthly Bills
The FCC hasn’t yet said when consumers will start seeing the labels, but because the agency typically gives companies significant time to comply with new rules, they’ll probably show up online and in ads six months to a year from now.
One place you won’t see the labels is on your monthly bill, and that’s a missed opportunity, according to some consumer advocates. "If the label is displayed only on ISP websites and marketing materials—and not on monthly bills—CR and other consumer advocates fear that many existing customers will never see or derive any benefit from the label," CR’s Schwantes says. "CR hopes the FCC will revisit this ruling and require ISPs to provide a broadband label on every monthly bill."
However, the FCC signaled in an announcement (PDF) that it might refine the regulations in the future, "in order to ensure that we further our consumer transparency goals."
The new broadband label was mandated by last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which also allocated $65 billion in funding to increase broadband access and affordability.
Consumer Reports has long advocated new consumer-friendly labels, going back to its support for the 2015 Open Internet Order, which was designed to make home internet access more transparent and competitive, and to impose net neutrality rules on the broadband industry. Proposals for the labels were adopted in 2016 but were never implemented. After a change in leadership under the Trump Administration, the FCC largely scrapped the increased transparency requirements along with net neutrality rules.
