These labels aren't just for food anymore.
You're now going to see them on internet plans. But why?
Is it too hard to understand here's the price per month
and here's the speed you'll get? Well, it turns out that the answer is actually yes.
The American FCC is requiring ISPs to provide these labels for most internet plans
offered to the public starting this month, precisely because between introductory rates
and hidden fees, many consumers find broadband advertising
to be confusing. The goal of the labels is to provide a standardized way
to inform consumers of the true cost of their service
and exactly what they'll be getting instead of allowing ISPs to bury these important details
in the fine print. And although we're mostly used to seeing the analogous nutrition facts labels
on actual food packaging, the broadband facts labels
have to be displayed both online and in stores
if you're buying internet service that way. I prefer my internet boxed.
Let's take a look at what exactly has to be included.
Up top, you'll see the name of the ISP and the name of the plan.
Just below that, you'll see the monthly price prominently displayed, similarly to how the calorie count
is displayed on a nutrition label. Below this, you'll have a section of gotchas.
You'll see immediately if the monthly price is some kind of introductory promo rate
and if it is, how long the rate is good for and what the new rate will be at the end of the intro period.
If you have to sign a contract, you'll see how long that contract is
and a link to the full terms. Then you'll see another gotchas section
outlining additional charges. Everything from equipment rental fees,
installation fees, taxes, and the penalty for backing out of a contract early.
It would be nice if a total price, including all of that junk, was listed prominently
at the top of the label. But as it is, you'll have to do a little math
to figure out the total damage. You do, however, get a link to any discounts
you're eligible for if you're bundling or using your own equipment.
Now, below all this pricing information, you'll see a section outlining
both the typical download and upload speeds and as a pleasant surprise,
you also get a latency number in milliseconds.
Although most people look more at the raw megabits per second,
latency can be more important if you do lots of online gaming
or if you're frequently making video calls. Unfortunately, the FCC hasn't included
specific requirements on how speeds and latency should be measured.
While the FCC does run a program to help ISPs determine typical speed and latency numbers,
participation isn't a requirement. Hopefully in the future,
there will be a more standardized way to provide these numbers, but given that ISPs like Comcast
are already unhappy about just having to fill out a label,
whether that'll happen is anyone's guess. Anywho, the bottom of the label
also has to include any data caps and overage charges,
a link to the ISPs network management practices,
which is essentially how well they adhere to net neutrality principles,
and a link to their privacy policy and customer support services.
ISP websites are also required to compile all of their labels
into a publicly available spreadsheet, which could be useful
if you want to quickly compare plans. And in case you were wondering,
if you're one of those people who signs up for internet service over the phone,
the person on the other end is required to read the entire label to you.
Oh boy, you wanna get a snack. Of course, there was some griping from ISPs
about how much time and energy it would take to create these labels,
but given how much money ISPs spend on designing and sending out junk mail,
it's hard for me to feel too bad for them. But I feel good about the fact
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what I'm doing right now. Pretty cool.