FCC chairman mocks industry claims that customers don’t need faster Internet

Federal Communications Commission Tom Wheeler put on a show by contrasting Internet service providers’ marketing claims with their statements to the government.

• “Let’s parse out what they say in their lobbying with us and what they say when they’re talking to consumers,” said Chairman Wheeler. While Verizon told the FCC that consumers are satisfied with 4Mbps/1Mbps and that "a higher benchmark would serve no purpose,” they push customers to buy much faster speeds, which cost more, Chairman Wheeler pointed out. “Somebody is telling us one thing and telling consumers another."
• “Consider what AT&T told us in this proceeding,” Chairman Wheeler said. “Quote: ‘the notice presents no basis for a conclusion at this time that a service less than 10Mbps is no longer advanced.' But what they say to their customers is, ‘with downstream speeds up to 45Mbps, AT&T’s U-verse high-speed Internet lets you enjoy life in the fast lane, download music, movies and more in record time.’”
• Next up in Chairman Wheeler's list was Comcast, which told the commission that a “4Mbps connection has been found to be sufficient to handle streaming HD video,” he said. But the Comcast website tells customers that with 150Mbps, they can “game in real time, and stream HD movies,” Chairman Wheeler noted.

“The facts speak for themselves,” he concluded, adding that subscriptions to 25Mbps/3Mbps service have quadrupled in the past three years.