Comcast and co. will have to slap ‘nutrition labels’ on their internet soon

Six years after seeing the FCC formally propose a “nutrition label” for your carrier’s potentially confusing array of plans, the agency says it’s finally happening. this week, it is ordering Internet Service Providers in the United States plan to adopt the label format shown below.

They’ve changed a bit since 2016 — now it seems each plan has its own label instead of ISPs trying to cram them all onto one sheet. Point out the legitimacy of your network management policies instead of beating yourself up for throttling data or giving some apps the fast lane. It seems that.

Thankfully, ISPs still have to report. Typical It doesn’t just repeat the advertised speed. Hopefully someone will audit it.

While most major ISPs take six months to slap a new label on their website and distribute it in stores, the FCC is giving ISPs with fewer than 100,000 subscribers one year to comply. . But none of these shot clocks start until the order is reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget to ensure compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act and similar laws, so it could take a little longer, he said. FCC points out.

Meanwhile, FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel suggests that ISPs may want to get ahead of things and adopt on their own.

The FCC also says it hopes these labels will evolve from here, so it will provide “more comprehensive pricing information, bundled plans, label accessibility, performance characteristics, service reliability, cybersecurity, and more.” , network management, privacy issues, the availability of labels in multiple languages, and the information contained in labels to be communicated more clearly and effectively. So, whether the label should be interactive or formatted differently.”