Patrick Thomas

Cable and telecommunication companies are leaning heavily on their broadband businesses to propel growth as demand for pay TV subscriptions declines. They are using a range of tactics to shift consumers onto faster, premium speed tiers. In some cases, that means boosting speeds free temporarily, then raising fees later. Some consumers say that when they call to complain about their bill, the provider assuages them by offering a higher speed at a promotional rate that eventually gives way to a higher price.

The Wall Street Journal studied the internet use of 53 of our journalists across the country, over a period of months, in coordination with researchers at Princeton University and the University of Chicago. Our panelists used only a fraction of their available bandwidth to watch streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, even simultaneously. Quality didn’t improve much with higher speeds. Picture clarity was about the same. Videos didn’t launch quicker.