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Is Verizon Scamming the Public? AG to Launch Investigation

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman intends to launch a probe into whether Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision are deceiving their customers.

If you’re a New Yorker who’s experienced slow Internet with a high-speed provider you’re not alone. Consumer complaints have prompted New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to launch a probe into whether Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision are deceiving their customers.

Letters sent out to the companies on Friday asked for copies of disclosures made to customers and copies of their Internet speed tests, Reuters reported. The Attorney General is concerned that we may be paying for slower-than-advertised Internet.

“New Yorkers deserve the Internet speeds they pay for. But, it turns out, many of us may be paying for one thing, and getting another,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “Families pay a huge cost already for internet access in New York, so I will not tolerate a situation in which they aren’t getting what they have been promised.”

According to Bloomberg, Schneiderman’s senior enforcement counsel, Tim Wu, told the companies in the letters that he is “specifically concerned about the disruptions to the consumer experience caused by interconnection disputes.” He said, “interconnection arrangements may in some instances render irrelevant any benefit” of purchasing a premium broadband subscription.

An interconnect arrangement is a business contract between telecommunications companies that allows them to exchange traffic and connect their networks. Companies like Verizon, Time Warner, and Cablevision are forced to work together, and in doing so, they may be misrepresenting the benefits of premium subscriptions to customers.

As of June this year, one can now file a complaint with the FCC regarding a slow connection speed. New Yorkers have the ability to do the same with the Attorney General.

Verizon, Time Warner, and Cablevision all have one-star ratings on Consumer Affairs. One customer from Manhattan complained that while he was paying Verizon for a minimum of 75/75 Mbps speed, he was getting as low as 2 Mbps.

Megabits per second measure the download and upload speeds for our Internet service. In the letters, Wu asked the companies to “explain how [they manage] the last-mile bandwidth made available to differing levels of customers, such as 100 Mbps versus a 200 Mbps customer.”

“What they’re doing is sending a shot across the bow at industry and saying, ‘If you’re making these claims, you’d better be able to substantiate them,’ ” David Vladeck, former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection bureau, told the Washington Post.

Verizon, Time Warner, and Cablevision all released statements Monday that they’re confident their subscription services are legitimate.

“We’re confident that we provide our customers the speeds and services we promise them and look forward to working with the AG to resolve this matter,” said Time Warner Cable spokesman, Bobby Amirshahi.

The Attorney General’s concern over the effect of interconnection arrangements on Internet speeds is supported by a 2014 study performed by the Measurement Lab Consortium. According to Reuters, M-Lab discovered that customers’ Internet service usually suffered at points where their service providers connected with long-haul Internet traffic carriers. The study, along with consumer complaints prompted the Attorney General’s probe.

This isn’t the first action Schneiderman has taken to promote fair practices on the Internet. In a letter to the New York Public Service Commission in August, Schneiderman expressed concern over “whether there is adequate competition for broadband service throughout the various regions of New York State, and whether there are any areas that are still essentially cable monopolies.” 63 percent of Americans have only one choice for a high-speed broadband provider.

The appointment of Tim Wu to the New York Attorney General’s office signals that Internet issues are at the top of the office’s agenda. He is best known for coming up with the phrase net neutrality, which led to the 2010 passage of a federal Net Neutrality rule. Net neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers should treat all data the same, and not charge differentially by the user.

The Attorney General’s investigation holds serious implications for Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision. If the companies are in fact lying to their customers, the investigation could be the beginning of new era in regulation of Internet service providers.

Sam Deutsch

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