The FCC Announces Plan to Examine the Broadband Industry's Use of 'Data Caps'

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on internet service providers’ use of data caps. According to the FCC, nearly 3,000 internet users have contacted the agency to complain about broadband companies limiting their broadband usage — and about providers frequently charging high fees for users who exceed these caps. 

“We are listening,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “We are doing this to give voice to those who have told us that they lack competition and a choice of providers where they live and believe data caps are unfair.”

According to Rosenworcel, the goal of the NOI is to get a nationwide view of the broadband industry’s use of caps and to understand what the FCC can do to protect internet users. The NOI notes that the agency will investigate the use of data caps by different kinds of providers, for fixed and mobile broadband-internet service, and assess their impact on internet users and competition. The agency has invited public comments on the matter through early December 2024.

Free Press Vice President of Policy and General Counsel Matt Wood said: 

“We’re glad to see the FCC studying the question of data caps and internet users’ experience with them. There’s no way today to make a categorical judgment about all data caps, usage-based pricing plans and other structures that carriers employ. Some companies — and especially mobile wireless internet providers — may face real bandwidth constraints at particular times and places in their network. Other providers may impose caps and overage fees without any technical justification, just because they face no real competition and can get away with penalizing their customers.

“Regardless of how any one company justifies these tactics, the nation’s communications regulator needs to understand whether and when data caps are a tool for managing network resources — or merely a method for gouging captive customers.

“Today’s announcement and item show the FCC working exactly as it should: asking thoughtful questions about the state of the market to understand consumers’ experiences and to decide what intervention — if any — may be warranted. That’s obviously too much for people like dissenting Commissioner Carr, who above all else is dedicated to defending companies’ so-called ‘freedom’ rather than the interests of the people the agency is sworn to serve.”