Government is really great when it is allowed to act. Witness the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform despite the best efforts by Republicans to smother it in the cradle. Add in the Federal Communications Commission, which didn't just act to keep the internet open, but insisted that it had to be better, and you've got a pretty great partnership.
When the FCC narrowly approved the Open Internet Order a year ago, most of the discussion involved “net neutrality” — the rules against Internet service providers being able to block, slow down, or prioritize access to specific sites and content. However, the Order also contained new transparency rules requiring broadband providers to, well, be more transparent with consumers, which is why today the FCC announced a new labeling system to help keep consumers informed.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler—along with Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — unveiled a new “Consumer Broadband Label” designed to let buyers of broadband services (i.e., anyone signing up for a home or mobile data plan) make consistent comparisons between services while shopping for plans. [...]
“If you are going to get competition, competition, competition,” Wheeler said, referring to his frequent mantra for broadband, “you need information, information, information. The more consumers know, the better the opportunity for competition.”
Competition is still a big issue, a big, fat hairy issue because it really doesn't exist in most of the country, but where it does exist the new "labels" that providers will have to make available will make decision-making easier. There are two versions, the home/cable model and one for mobile and require that all the surcharges and fees are included. For the home version, it requires the monthly cost, the one-time costs, and the hardware rental costs are disclosed as well as the typical broadband speed customers experience, not the hyped maximize speed the companies promise in theory.
There's a catch, though, in that companies aren't required to use this label format. They are going to be required to provide all this information in some format because it was included in the net neutrality order. But they don't have to use this kind of disclosure. If they do, however, they have a "safe harbor," they'll be considered as compliant with the rule if they do use it and thus won't be held responsible or considered in violation of the transparency rule.