On May 6 of this year, Public Knowledge and New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative sent a letter urging the Wireline Competition Bureau to exercise its statutory authority to fully investigate the nature, purpose, and impact of data caps upon consumers.1 Since then, data caps have spread further across the industry. Verizon recently announced data caps for its new 4G wireless service, and left open the possibility of data caps on its FiOS service (a possibility they had long dismissed).2 The costs of data caps to consumers and society are becoming increasingly clear. We hope the Commission moves quickly to investigate what, if any, benefits balance those costs.
The case of Andre Vrignaud is a stunning illustration of how these data cap policies undercut the values espoused in the National Broadband Plan.3 After twice being informed by his ISP Comcast that he had exceeded his monthly data cap, Vrignaud has been blacklisted from Comcast for one year. In his account, Vrignaud suggests that remotely backing up two decades worth of photographs and music files is what triggered his yearlong removal from Comcast.
While we have no way to independently verify Vrignaud’s account of this specific incident, we are concerned because it represents an entirely plausible and legitimate use of a residential broadband internet connection. Data caps make this type of use punishable with one year without internet access. This conflict is unsustainable.
In light of this, we are expanding our original request to include an investigation into the data cap policies of all ISPs. There does not appear to be any restraint on the expansion of data caps, or expectation that they will not be widely adopted. Strict data caps are an industry trend that works to undermine the benefits of broadband that this Commission so enthusiastically champions.
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