Georgia State commuter students who pay for internet and cable through Comcast, AT&T; and other big telecom companies may soon face relief in their cable bills.
President Obama called for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to treat internet service more like a public utility in a statement released on Nov. 10 by the White House.
The announcement stemmed from ongoing issues with the topic of net neutrality, which prevents Comcast, AT&T; and other internet/cable companies from controlling what kind of content you’re browsing online, according to the Open Internet Order.
The FCC states that all internet traffic sources have to be treated the same no matter how fast or slow the data is streaming.
Still, customers from all over the U.S. are reporting that Verizon, Comcast and AT&T; are slowing down their internet speed based on how much data the household uses.
Georgia State students and other local residents in the immediate metro Atlanta area who use either Comcast or AT&T; may have felt the effects of a data cap implementation from both companies last December, according to Ars Technica.
This may have also placed restrictions on how much data a household could stream per month and if the customer goes over the limit they are charged additional fees.
Georgia State student Jonell Gipson said she was unhappy with all the offered internet services in Atlanta.
“I live in Decatur and you either get Comcast or AT&T;,” Gipson said. “We went with Comcast because they had a special offer, but our charges increase with every six months on our plan.”
Gipson also said that although she and her family use minimal services, their bill is still high and continues to increase.
“My family only pays for internet and about 12 television channels because that’s all we use… but our monthly bill is easily more than our electric or our gas,” she said.
The FCC wrote Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead a letter expressing distaste for the company slowing service for customers who are paying for what is advertised as unlimited data.
However, Verizon isn’t the only company accused of throttling services for customers. AT&T; is currently being sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for falsely advertising an unlimited data plan and slowing services for heavy-use customers, according to Washington Post.
This practice of ‘throttling’ has been going on since as early as 2011, according to the Washington Post.
“The FTC found in its investigation that AT&T; was aware that consumers saw throttling as inconsistent with promises of ‘unlimited” data,’ the Washington Post states.
Student Enoch Kim said he has been hit with going over the data cap limit on several occasions and is thankful that cable and internet is to be treated as a utility.
“I didn’t even know they were putting this data cap thing in last year,” Kim said. “I have four other roommates and we all have and stream Netflix all the time. One time we went over the data cap by 70 dollars in addition to our bill.”
Kim also said the best solution would be for Google Fiber to come to Atlanta.
Currently Google Fiber is only offered in Kansas City, Austin and Provo, Utah. The speeds are over 100 times faster than today’s basic broadband according to their website.
“You no longer have to wait on things buffering; everything will be ready to go when you are. So whether you are video chatting, uploading family videos or playing your favorite online games, all you need to do is click and you’re there,” the website states.
Comcast responded to the President’s urging of equal internet speed, stating that the company supports net neutrality as well.
Comcast said in its response that it embraces the open internet principals that President Obama and the Chairman of the FCC have supported, which includes transparency, no-discrimination rules and zero ‘fast lanes.’
Nia Jones, an account executive with Comcast in Atlanta, said even with all of the bad publicity that Comcast has come under, it’s still the best cable and television company in the greater Atlanta Metro area.
“Our data cap is an entire 50 GB higher than our competitor and our speeds are unmatched,” she said.
