Dems to ISPs: You're Not Gonna Hike Broadband Prices, Restrict Folks in a Pandemic, are You?
upstart writes in with an IRC submission:
America's largest internet providers have been asked to provide details of any price hikes or broadband restrictions they have placed on captive internet users during the pandemic.
In a letter from House Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), as well as the chair of its technology subcommittee Mike Doyle (D-PA), the lawmakers cite the case of Comcast placing new data caps on internet users to ask the other ISPs what they have done to their customers.
Clearly Pallone and Doyle suspect broader restrictions and profit-seeking against millions of Americans stuck at and working from home. They make it plain they aren't happy about it.
"This is an egregious action at a time when households and small businesses across the country need high-speed, reliable broadband more than ever but are struggling to make ends meet," the letters to Altice, AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, T-Mobile and Verizon note.
[...] There is nothing that lawmakers can do of course to force ISPs to lower prices, or remove caps, or waive fees - except ask embarrassing questions. And that's exactly what the letter does: "Did your company participate in the FCC's "Keep Americans Connected" pledge?" reads the first.
Then it asks: have you increased prices, do you plan on increasing prices? Did you have a data cap prior to March 2020? How about now? Have you disconnected any customers? Do you have a plan for low-income households? And so on.
How's your ISP been treating you recently? Any sign of the things mentioned here, good or bad?
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