tl;dr:
FCC chair to investigate exactly how much everyone hates data caps ISPs clearly have technical ability to offer unlimited data, chair’s office says.
Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wants the FCC to open a formal inquiry into how data caps harm Internet users and why broadband providers still impose the caps.
The inquiry could eventually lead to the FCC regulating how Internet service providers such as Comcast impose limits on data usage.
“As we emerge from the pandemic, there are many lessons to learn about what worked and what didn’t work, especially around what it takes to keep us all connected. When we need access to the Internet, we aren’t thinking about how much data it takes to complete a task, we just know it needs to get done. It’s time the FCC take a fresh look at how data caps impact consumers and competition.”
I live in an area with only 2 ISPs to choose from: AT&T or Comcast, and they both have data caps. The FCC has a publicly available Data Cap Experience Form on their site basically all you do is write a paragraph summarizing your experience with data caps.
If anyone wants help, fill out the form and let the FCC know much you hate data caps.
Why even go through this crap? They already know that data caps provide no advantage to the customer so why would any sane person defend them? They are just providing room for fake responses.
They are required to go through a certain policy making process as required by Congress. This is true of regulations in general. If they don’t follow it correctly and then institute a policy, the industry can sue. It is better and faster to just get it right the first time.
From the form:
and any other information that describes the benefits or challenges that you have experienced due to data caps
There’s no way anybody could POSSIBLY benefit from being artificially limited for no reason. Why even include that?
Companies benefit from being able to hobble their customer’s experience.
