S. 3110 Broadband Service Consumer Protection

On March 15, 2010, Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced legislation, the Broadband Service Consumer Protection Act (S.3110), that will require broadband providers to give clear information on the actual service speeds consumers will receive.

From Sen Klobuchar's news release:

The Broadband Service Consumer Protection Act (S.3110) calls on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to develop uniform performance standards so consumers can more easily compare service offers before purchase and find out if they are receiving the high-speed service they are paying for each month. This legislation responds to the practice of internet providers regularly advertising internet service speeds that are often much higher than the actual speed the average consumer receives.

Currently, there is no industry-wide standard terminology or method to assess broadband speed, and in many cases, internet services are marketed and sold at one level of performance, but received at another, lesser level. According to the FCC, the actual broadband speed consumers experience lags the advertised speed by as much as 50 percent to 80 percent. For example, a consumer may be paying for speeds “up to” 12 Mbps (Megabits per second) but only getting 6 Mbps in actual use.

The Broadband Service Consumer Protection Act would require clear and conspicuous information in advertising, points of sale, and service contracts that describe the actual broadband performance a user will experience. Providers would be required to disclose the average speed experienced by the consumer in their monthly bills or invoices. Additionally, the FCC would be required to establish definitions of commonly-used marketing terminology and standards to uniformly gauge broadband speed.

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Specifically, the bill would require the FCC, within 180 days of passage of the Act, to initiate a rulemaking proceeding --

(1) to assist consumers, before they purchase broadband service from a provider, in making realistic assumptions about the actual speeds that may reasonably be expected and how those assumptions may be affected by the hardware used by the consumer to connect to the Internet, peak service periods, and other factors; and

(2) to assist consumers, after they purchase broadband service from a provider, in monitoring their usage and determining whether they are getting the level of broadband service for which they are paying.

The FCC would also establish technical standards for quantifying broadband service measures of performance and other features and require that broadband service providers apply those standards with respect to measures of performance and other features of the broadband service provided.

The FCC would have to require, at a minimum, that any person selling, or offering for sale, broadband service to the public disclose the actual speeds of the broadband service that can reasonably be expected from the broadband service provider in a clear and conspicuous manner --

(1) in advertising or marketing materials associated with the sale, or offering for sale, of the service;

(2) in the service contract and other material associated with the purchase of the service; and

(3) at the point of sale, whether a physical location or on a website.

Finally, the FCC would require that --

(1) any invoice or periodic statement of account provided to a consumer by a broadband service provider include a description or analysis of the service provided in such detail, and covering such parameters of usage, for the period covered by the invoice or statement as the Federal Communications Commission determines practicable; and

(2) the description or analysis be provided in an easily understood, clear and conspicuous, format.