The first observation is that the labels are generally hard to find – they are not prominently displayed on ISP websites. This is because the FCC rules say that ISPs only have to display the labels at ‘points of sale’. ISPs have interpreted this to mean that a customer must first submit a valid address to the ISP website, and then typically navigate through several more links to find the labels. Even after entering an address, the links to broadband labels are often not clearly identified, and it was a challenge to find the labels for some ISPs. I thought one of the purposes of the labels was to make it easier for the public to comparison-shop between ISPs – but finding the labels usually takes a lot of work, especially for somebody who isn’t familiar with navigating ISP websites.
The one big benefit of the labels for most ISPs is that they make it easier to find broadband prices. Over the last few years, it’s grown increasingly difficult to find the list price for broadband on big ISP websites – the price that customers pay at the end of a special promotion rate. ISPs are now disclosing the full list price on the labels.
One exception to showing list prices is Comcast. The company is showing the promotional rates in bold for many broadband products and only shows the list price in fine print. Comcast is also deceptive about the cost of its broadband modem. All they say is that it’s optional, without mentioning that their price for a modem rental is $15. They also don’t mention that to get some features a Comcast modem is mandatory. I rate the Comcast labels as still being as deceptive as their website was before the labels. But Comcast isn’t the only one not being open and clear about the modem rental. I’m guessing that big ISPs are rationalizing that WiFi and the modem are not a broadband product as a way to keep them off the label. Any ISP not disclosing modem prices and policies is creating a hidden fee.
One of the features of the labels is that an ISP is supposed to provide a plain English description if its technology and network practices. Most ISPs failed at this, and a customer trying to understand two competing ISPs is not going to understand the technology difference using the broadband labels.
Consider Verizon. It has a network management section of the label that mixes in descriptions of its wide range of different technologies rather than describing each separately. There are a few things that a shopper for FWA service ought to be told: 1) that the FWA product is delivered over the same network delivering bandwidth to cellphones, 2) that the key factor that determines the speed for a customer at a given tower is the distance between the customer and the tower, and 3) that broadband can be throttled if the cell site gets busy. They disclose the third item, but overall, they fail at describing how FWA works.
The labels are not going to tell the public much about speeds. A few ISPs, like Verizon FWA and T-Mobile FWA, are honest and report a range of speeds. Cox is relatively honest and says that speeds are ‘up-to’ the cited marketing speed for a given product. But most big ISPs are claiming they deliver speeds in excess of advertised rates. Charter says speeds are at the advertised speed or faster. Comcast, CenturyLink, Mediacom, and Sparklight all cite ‘typical speeds’ which are all faster than the advertised speed – some significantly faster. This is the first time I’ve seen the term ‘typical speed’, and I have no idea what ISPs mean by it.
Windstream took an interesting approach to broadband labels and only created labels for fiber customers and not for older DSL. I don’t know if that meets the FCC requirements, but Windstream is reporting 100 Mbps capability for DSL in some markets on the FCC map, and this feels like something that should have a label.
All of the labels must disclose latency, and many of the latency numbers cited seem significantly low. I think that the ISPs are citing the latency between their headend and the customer, not the latency that a customer can expect in getting to the Internet. If so, this also feels deceptive to me.
Overall, the Broadband Labels do not fulfill the FCC’s goals of making it easier for customers to understand broadband products. It is a relief to see most ISPs disclose prices – but if Comcast gets away with highlighting marketing promotional rates, the labels for other ISPs might change soon to match. Disclosures on speeds are mostly a joke – and most customers are going to be surprised to find that their ISP is bringing them faster speeds than what they are paying for (sarcasm alert). For the most part, the descriptions of network practices are not written in plain English to help a potential customer understand the technology being used. The carefully crafted lawyer language in these sections makes it hard for even experienced industry folks to understand network management policies.