Pallone Presses ISPs on Anti-Consumer Practices in ACP, EBB Programs

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., pressed AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and 10 other major ISPs on reports “that some providers may not be adhering to the requirements” of the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and emergency broadband benefit (EBB) enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The other ISPs drawing Pallone’s scrutiny are: Altice, Charter, Cox, Dish Network, Excess Wireless, Frontier, Lumen, Maxsip, Q Link and T-Mobile. “These reports detail problems customers have faced, including either having their benefits initiated, transferred to a new provider, or changed to a different plan without their knowledge or consent,” Pallone said in letters to the 13 ISPs’ top executives. “Other customers have reported a delay in the application of the benefit or a requirement to opt-in to future full-price service, which has resulted in surprise bills that have been sent to collection agencies. There have also been reports of aggressive upselling of more expensive offerings, requirements that customers accept slower speed service tiers, and other harmful and predatory practices.” Congress “explicitly outlined requirements designed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, maximize the enrollment of eligible households, and ensure that consumers are protected in the process,” he said: “Importantly, Congress incorporated lessons learned in the emergency implementation of EBB to fully inform the creation of ACP, including by enhancing safeguards to preserve program integrity and ensuring that ACP would truly benefit consumers and not leave them vulnerable to predatory schemes or misleading practices.” Pallone wants information from the ISPs by Nov. 9 about their practices, including the number of beneficiaries they have signed up, the number of complaints they have received regarding the programs’ administration and their processes for resolving complaints. "We look forward to responding to the Chairman’s questions, and we remain committed to helping make broadband more affordable for millions of American households,” an AT&T spokesperson said. "Charter’s significant participation in the EBB and ACP programs has helped millions of families gain access to reliable and affordable, high-speed in-home internet; and builds on our broader, ongoing commitment to increasing connectivity by promoting broadband availability, adoption and affordability for all," a spokesperson said. Excess is "working diligently with government officials and other stakeholders to root out improper activities," a spokesperson said. The other ISPs didn’t comment.