These senators wanted an FCC probe of Internet prices. They’re going to be disappointed.

If you were hoping the Federal Communications Commission would probe what Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has called the "ridiculous" prices charged by Internet providers to consumers, don't hold your breath. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said his agency lacks the kind of granular price data that Sen Sanders and three other Democratic senators asked for in a letter they sent to the FCC. In the letter, Sen Sanders -- along with Sens Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Al Franken (D-MN) said low competition and hard-to-understand fees were driving up the cost of Internet access for Americans. "Lack of choice has resulted in huge price increases and often poor service," the senators wrote. "There are now de facto communications monopolies throughout the United States."

To address the issue, they asked the FCC to investigate how much cable and Internet services go for in various markets around the country and requested the agency break down the numbers by speed tier, state, provider and urban and rural categories. But the FCC will have a problem giving the senators what they want. That's because the agency collects some data on cable pricing, but not at the level of granularity the senators asked for. And it doesn't collect any information whatsoever on broadband pricing. Telecommunication policy analysts say that what the FCC might do is simply send one of these prepared reports to Congress rather than supply the raw data, which would be difficult and expensive to pass along (and not completely responsive to the senators' request, for that matter).