Shopping for Broadband: Failed Federal Policy Creates Murky Marketplace

In a large number of communities across the United States, shopping for Internet access is really challenging. In recent years, groups like Consumer Reports and New America have called attention to the challenge and pushed for the explicit disclosure of service details like download speed, upload speed, monthly service cost, and other information that helps potential subscribers compare providers. The broadband market is opaque in many regards, as detailed by the Federal Trade Commission in an October 2021 report outlining a series of concerns with the privacy practice disclosures of six undisclosed major Internet service providers (ISPs). The fact is that there’s a lot of information large ISPs aren’t telling customers, despite half-hearted attempts by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to bring transparency to the market. Analysis by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) finds that while a number of Internet access providers fail altogether to meet transparency requirements, others violate the spirit of transparency—to empower customers with information—by burying important service details in difficult-to-reach locations.

[Emma Gautier researches and analyzes broadband pricing data for ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative.]