Nutrition labels are an excellent consumer tool, allowing us to quickly understand the health contents of any given food before we choose to buy or eat it. The FCC must be fans, because they’re now requiring all internet service providers (ISPs) to add their own “nutrition labels” on their services.
Per the FCC’s new rules, ISPs must begin labeling their internet packages with “broadband labels” that look remarkably like the Nutrition Facts label you’d find on any food product. These new rules go into effect today, April 10, and apply to home internet plans, as well as mobile broadband plans. (If a company has fewer than 100,000 subscribers, however, they have until Oct. 10, 2024 to add the labels.)
On these labels, you’ll find information such as prices for broadband service, introductory rates, data allowances for each plan, and speeds. You’ll also find links to more information regarding the company’s privacy policies and network management practices. You’ll also see them whether you’re buying your plans online or in-store.
While the goal of these broadband labels is to make shopping for internet plans easier for consumers, even the FCC understands that many of us aren’t going to understand all the terms that go into supplying home or mobile internet. As such, they have a lengthy glossary consumers can refer to if there’s a term they’re unfamiliar with. “Pass through” fees, for example, are government fees companies choose to pass onto you, rather than pay themselves, while “typical latency” is the amount of time it takes for information to move from one point to another across the internet.
You can also check out a sample of a broadband label from the FCC here, if you want to know what they look like before trying to purchase an internet plans. You’ll see the plan at the top, followed by the monthly price clear and in bold. You can see this sample plan has an introductory rate, and that the price jumps to $109.99 after a 12-month period. Immediately, you know what your rate will be halfway through your contract, whereas before you’d likely need to pry that info out of your ISP.
I think these labels are a great idea: If it helps consumers understand what they’re signing up for, and potentially help them choose a better plan they didn’t know existed, or negotiate a better rate, I’m all for that. It might not address the lack of ISP choice consumers have in the United States, but it should help stop consumers from giving their ISPs even more money than they’re already charging.
