More fees for Columbus internet? Spectrum lobbyist shows interest in data caps

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Federal regulators are weighing the legality of extra charges based on usage for home internet bills, and lobbyists for a major internet service provider in central Ohio have joined the proceedings.

Since Oct. 15, the Federal Communications Commission -- which oversees the U.S. radio, television and internet industries -- has been in the midst of an inquiry into broadband data caps' effects on customers, and whether the agency should regulate companies' abilities to use them. Instead of giving a customer unlimited access to the internet, the pricing model includes an allowance of data.

Downloading a video game or playing online, attending a Zoom meeting from home, watching a video on a streaming platform or updating a computer all chip away at a data cap. What happens when the limit is passed, is up to the company providing the internet.

The FCC's proposal has met resistance from internet service providers, including a lobbying group known as the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Its website lists members including Charter Communications, the parent company for Spectrum internet in Columbus. Chris Winfrey, Charter's president and CEO, also serves as the vice chairman for the NCTA. As part of a public comment period on the FCC's inquiry, the NCTA submitted multiple filings speaking against regulation on data caps, referring to them instead as "usage-based pricing."

"Such consumption-based pricing equitably and efficiently ensures that consumers who use goods or services the most pay more than those that do not," NCTA representatives wrote. "Among other things, usage-based pricing enhances competition and expands consumers’ access to broadband by enabling providers to offer innovative plans at lower monthly rates."

The group's comments ignore data from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which directly named Spectrum as holding an internet monopoly over 24 million Americans, including in parts of central Ohio. NBC4 reached out to Charter's communications team, and asked whether its lobbying group's testimony reflected plans for Spectrum to introduce data caps. If so, NBC4 also questioned whether that would be a national rollout or regional, and if it would affect Columbus.

"We have no plan to impose data caps," a Charter spokesperson wrote back. "In fact, all Spectrum Internet plans offer 100% U.S.-based support with no modem fees, no annual contracts, and no data caps."

However, Charter's past actions indicate it has considered them. The U.S. Department of Justice and the FCC approved the corporation's merge with Time Warner Cable in 2016, on the condition it would be banned from adding data caps to internet plans until 2023. But in 2021, Charter filed a petition with the FCC to get out of the restriction on data caps early. In the same month that President Joe Biden appointed Jessica Rosenworcel as the FCC's chairwoman, the company then withdrew the petition.

Cox Communications, whose president also serves as chairman for NCTA, already has data caps in its pricing model. The company limits its customers to 1.25 terabytes a month in multiple plans, and charges an extra $10 per 50 gigabytes of extra usage. As part of an "additional data plan," customers can get unlimited access, but Cox doesn't make pricing information for it readily available on its website.

Rosenworcel has already taken a clear stance against data caps on the FCC's website. Her quote accompanies complaints to the agency from nearly 600 different customers about their experience with the pricing model.

"Access to the internet is not a luxury. It is essential for modern life," Rosenworcel wrote.

The consumers' names were redacted in a testimony document, but paint a picture of extra hassle brought on by data caps where companies employed them.

"We have had to unplug our modem to prevent going over our data cap," a parent from Arkansas wrote. "We have to take our kids to find public Wi-Fi to complete their school work. We can't afford $190 a month for unlimited internet."

The issue goes beyond personal and educational use, with a remote worker from Michigan sharing their experience as well.

"I provide telemedicine services with video for low income patients," the user wrote. "These data caps mean I have to either spend more money each month for unlimited data, or I am forced to cut how much time I can spend doing non-work things at home."

The FCC's current opposition to data caps -- and the possibility it will regulate them -- likely won't last. President-elect Donald Trump has already appointed Brendan Carr, an existing Republican within the FCC, to take over as chairman from Rosenworcel. In October, the agency's leader-to-be opposed opening an inquiry into data caps in the first place.

"I dissent from today's NOI because I cannot support the Biden-Harris Administration's inexorable march towards rate regulation and because the FCC plainly does not have the legal authority to do so," Carr wrote.

The FCC is accepting public comment on its investigation of data caps until Dec. 2. Anyone with an opinion on the pricing model can submit testimony on the regulator's website