FCC: Major ISPs Will Need to Display Broadband Labels by April
New labels designed to tell you an internet service plan’s full price and performance up front should become widely available in the US by April 2024.
On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission set a deadline for when major internet service providers (ISPs) will need to start displaying federally mandated “broadband labels.”
The FCC is requiring major ISPs in the country to start doing so by April 10, when they’ll have to post the labels on their websites and at physical stores. Meanwhile, smaller ISPs with 100,000 or fewer subscribers are required to start showing the labels by Oct. 10, 2024.
The FCC passed the rule to mandate the broadband labels amid complaints that ISPs can charge hidden fees for an internet plan while burying details about the exact performance, including data caps. In response, the FCC designed the new broadband labels to look similar to the Nutrition Fact labels you can currently find on food products.
Expect the new labels to show the monthly price for an internet service plan, any additional fees, along with the download, upload, and latency speeds, and potential data caps. In addition, the new broadband labels will adopt a uniform format to make it easy for customers to compare one service to another.
“This is a big win for consumers,” said FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel in the announcement. “Consumers will finally get information they can use to comparison shop, avoid junk fees, and make informed choices about which high-speed internet service is the best fit for their needs and budget.”
Some ISPs initially objected to some of the requirements for the broadband labels over claims that listing all the recurring monthly fees for each locality could be too cumbersome. But in August, the
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