FCC rolls out mandatory ‘nutrition labels’ for internet providers’ plans

The next time you go shopping for a home or mobile internet plan, you’re going to see a new label laying out exactly what you can expect to pay, the typical download speeds you’ll get and information about the internet provider’s policies.

The next time you go shopping for a home or mobile internet plan, you’re going to see a new label lay out exactly what you can expect to pay, the typical download speeds you’ll get and information about the internet provider’s policies. That information will now be standardized across providers and displayed in a new disclosure modeled after the nutrition labels you see on food packaging in grocery store aisles, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The new labels, which go live beginning Wednesday and that all major internet service providers (ISPs) will now be required to show, are among the latest steps by the US government to help consumers make sense of the mix of plans, fees and promotional rates on the market today. The transparency the labels provide could help Americans save money, FCC and White House officials say. “The FCC borrowed the nutrition label model format from food products because we wanted to make basic information about broadband internet service easily recognizable and easy to understand,” Alejandro Roark, the FCC’s bureau chief for consumer and government affairs, told reporters on a conference call. Known as “consumer broadband labels,” the FCC-mandated disclosures must be offered at the point of sale both online and in stores — and in many cases, in both English and Spanish.