FCC asks for more public input on whether to let Charter impose data caps:
The Federal Communications Commission is taking another round of public comments on Charter's petition seeking permission to impose data caps on broadband users and charge network-interconnection fees to online-video providers, following a court ruling that may complicate the FCC's decision.
The deadline for comments on Charter's petition passed on August 6. But in a public notice issued today, the FCC said it is opening an additional comment period that will last until September 2, giving people time to weigh in on the impact of the court ruling.
"To ensure that the [Wireline Competition] Bureau has a full record upon which to evaluate the effects of the conditions, we initiate this additional comment period," the FCC notice said, while also inviting commenters to "address the effect" of the new court ruling on the FCC's consideration of Charter's petition. As before, comments can be submitted on the docket by clicking "New Filing" or "Express." There are more than 1,500 filings, mostly from consumers who object to data caps.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2020, @04:15AM
Weirdly I can imagine a world where caps make sense. Think cell phones where you can buy unlimited for x and capped for x - y price. Because enough competitors exists and because not everyone needs a ton of cell phone data (or want phones for making calls), it is rational to have price distinctions. The problem is that there is no/little competition and no reasonably priced tiers (e.g. 10 bucks for 500 gigs, 19 for 1 tb, 35 for unlimited), so caps suck. I also like how some cell phone providers have weak caps, where if you exceed the cap, you get slower service. That model would be nice or it could work like how the power company can regulate your AC usage in summer for a small discount. These are based upon different network planning needs, with a discount oriented approach, not a fee to punish a large class of users. That makes a big difference.