Cable internet service providers compare data caps to food menus: Don’t make us offer unlimited soup

Cable broadband companies continue to insist that data caps are good for people with low incomes, pushing back against comments filed by consumer advocacy groups. NCTA—The Internet & Television Association urged the Federal Communications Commission to avoid regulating the monthly data limits and overage charges that cable firms such as Comcast and Cox impose on many Internet plans. Advocacy groups "suggest that usage-based pricing disproportionately harms low-income users, reasoning that these users are least able to afford overage fees if they exceed data thresholds," the NCTA said in comments filed last week with the FCC. "However, in reality, usage-based pricing benefits low-income or price-sensitive consumers by providing additional options for less expensive plans." The cable lobby argument is similar to one made by Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington, who said that requiring unlimited data would be like requiring coffee shops to supply unlimited free refills. The FCC also received joint comments before last week's deadline from advocacy groups Public Knowledge, the Open Technology Institute at New America, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and the National Consumer Law Center (which said it is representing its low-income clients). The advocacy groups' joint filing said that comments filed by individual Internet users demonstrate the negative effects of data caps on people with low incomes.