Mon, Dec 14th 2020 12:00pm
Joshua Stager
How much do consumers pay for internet service in the United States? The question might seem relatively simple, but the answer has stymied the federal government for years because no agency collects this data. Throughout 2020, my organization, New America’s Open Technology Institute, published the Cost of Connectivity series to crack open the black box of internet pricing. The collective takeaway of these studies is clear: the cost of internet service is alarmingly high, and there is substantial evidence of an affordability crisis in the United States.
Our research found that U.S. consumers pay some of the highest broadband prices in the world, at an average $68.38 per month. Most of these plans advertise a temporary promotional rate, after which the monthly cost jumps an additional $22.25, on average. Of the 760 plans we surveyed across Europe, Asia, and North America, U.S. plans are the most expensive. Prices are particularly high in
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that the company had engaged in illegal anti-competitive behaviors to sustain a social media monopoly. Attorneys general from 46 states, D.C., and Guam a coalition that conducted an investigation in conjunction with the FTC filed a separate suit making similar antitrust claims. The FTC is partly seeking to force Facebook to sever its subsidiaries Instagram, which it acquired in 2012 for $1 billion, and WhatsApp, which it acquired in 2014 for $19 billion. The suit will likely be contested for years, and it’s far from a foregone conclusion that Facebook will actually have to break up. But if the FTC is ultimately successful, how would Facebook go about separating itself from Instagram and WhatsApp?
, a series from Future Tense in which experts suggest specific, forward-looking actions the new Biden administration should implement.
Consumers in the U.S. face an infuriating lack of transparency when it comes to purchasing broadband services. Bills are convoluted, featuring complex pricing schemes. Roughly 7 in 10 U.S. adults surveyed by Consumer Reports who have used a cable, internet, or phone service provider in the past two years said they experienced unexpected or hidden fees. Unsurprisingly, 96 percent of those who had experienced hidden fees found them annoying. (To the other 4 percent: Are you OK?)
Advertisement
We’ve been here before. In 1990, a similar crisis of consumer confidence prompted one Cabinet secretary to decry that “as consumers shop… they encounter confusion and frustration.” He said the market had become “a Tower of Babel, and consumers need to be linguists, scientists and mind readers to understand the many labels they see.” While this diagno