Tom Wheeler (Photo : Reuters)
The Federal Communications Commission recently imposed a new rule that requires Internet service providers and wireless network carriers to be transparent about the charges they are levying on customers monthly charges. The new rule urges companies to be truthful about the cost of their respective services.
The new transparency rule is part of the FCC's net neutrality order. Under the new rule, Internet service providers are required to clearly state the full details of all charges and that includes modem rental and installation fees among others. FCC also orders these companies to disclose the customers full monthly service charges after any promotional pricing expires.
The FCC posted a statement on its website regarding the new rule saying, "While we do not take additional action concerning the requirement to disclose privacy policies and redress options, the record demonstrates need for specific required disclosures about price and related terms."
The new rule also requires ISP's to specify all important disclosures regarding pricing, other fess and data caps and allowances. The FCC added that these new rules being imposed on the broadband and internet market is completely different from the "truth-in-billing" rules that are currently applied to telephone service.
However, the new set of rules will not be implemented right away. The new rule along with net neutrality regulations regarding throttling and "fast lane" schemes will take effect 60 days after its official publication in the Federal Register, according to Ars Tecnica.
Deceptive and secretive advertising has been a real problem to consumers for many years now. In line with these issues, DirecTV was sued by the Federal Trade Commission after accusations that the cable TV provider uses deceptive advertising schemes that tricked customers into paying more than they were originally offered after the discounted period of a certain service expires.
