When Public Knowledge came out against the proposed AT&T/Time Warner merger in 2017, we were worried that the merger would create both the incentive for the combined company to withhold, or charge more for its own content to rival distributors, and to discriminate against competing content on its own distribution services. The merger went through […]

Today, House Democrats introduced the “Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act” that, among other provisions, helps Americans access broadband — or stay connected — during the pandemic. Public Knowledge commends House Democrats and Sen. Merkley for championing broadband access for everyone during a time when no American can afford to be left behind.

This blog post is part of a series on communications policies Public Knowledge recommends in response to the pandemic. You can read more of our proposals here and view the full series here. On March 13, as concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic caused most of the nation to take drastic measures to socially distance and […]

Today, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the Wireline Competition Bureau had asked Comcast to explain its policy of applying data caps and overage fees to its broadband subscribers, while exempting its own streaming video service from the data caps. The Wireless Bureau sent letters to AT&T and T-Mobile asking them to explain the details of their respective data cap policies and address concerns raised by third parties.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission fined AT&T Mobility $100,000,000 for misleading its customers about unlimited data plans. The FCC alleges that AT&T slowed speeds for unlimited-data customers and also failed to notify customers that they could receive slower speeds than advertised. Public Knowledge raised questions about data throttling practices last year in a series of letters to AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.

Today, in response to a request from Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, the GAO released a report on the impact and perception of broadband data caps. The report follows a series of studies commissioned by Public Knowledge on consumer perceptions of broadband service. Reviewed together, these reports show that consumers are skeptical of broadband providers’ use of caps in a market where it’s increasingly difficult to change providers.

Today the Federal Communications Commission announced that T-Mobile has agreed to enable consumers to accurately gauge the speeds being offered on T-Mobile’s network even if they are being throttled. T-Mobile will now send customers text alerts when they are being throttled after reaching their data cap. The company also promises to update its website with the most commonly experienced speeds in order to increase transparency.

Today, the Federal Trade Commission initiated a complaint against AT&T claiming that the company misled consumers by throttling “unlimited” data plans, reducing customer data speeds by up to 90 percent. Public Knowledge commends the FTC for penalizing this deceptive industry practice but emphasizes that today’s action demonstrates the complementary roles of the FTC and the FCC.

Today, Public Knowledge filed letters with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon as the first step in the formal open internet complaint process. The complaint is in relation to AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon’s practice of throttling wireless data subscribers with “unlimited” data plans, as well as T-Mobile’s practice of exempting speed test applications from throttling.

Beginning yesterday, T-Mobile is offering a limited-time promotion tied to the wildly popular augmented reality game Pokémon GO, in which the mobile data used by the game will not count toward a customer’s data cap. This is yet another form of zero-rating, a practice that can raise serious concerns about competition policy, net neutrality, and consumer choice. Amidst a global Poké-craze, we shouldn’t lose sight of what this may portend for the future of the open internet. So we want to take the opportunity to raise a number of questions about this promotion which would also be important to answer for any other zero-rating service proposal. Before concluding anything about this promotion or any similar plans that may be proposed, it is important to better understand their potential dangers and benefits.