Responsible Consumerism?
Comcast is being sued for allegedly limiting bandwidth to file-sharing applications. Verizon recently settled a similar suit over its "unlimited" data plan.
If you notice, however, on
the Verizon commercials there’s a disclaimer that says, “Some restrictions apply.” So
when you get to the store, and YOU ACTUALLY READ THE CONTRACT before you sign
it, it says that there are certain types of data (mp3s, streaming media, etc.)
to which the “unlimited” moniker doesn’t apply.
So does this constitute fraud…when they say “unlimited” but don’t
mean “unlimited”? Would they be off the hook if they had simply chosen a
different term?
In the case of Comcast, they’re not blocking or limiting any particular
type of activity. They’re merely throttling bandwidth on connections that are
consuming a disproportionate amount thereof, in order to leave some bandwidth
available to the rest of their subscribers. In their ads they promise “speeds up to [whatever]”, and “blazing
download speeds”. In the first case there’s an implication that a certain speed
is possible but not guaranteed. The meaning of the second is highly subjective,
so there’s no way one person can say he wasn’t getting what he was promised. To
a former dial-up user 100 kbps is “blazing”.
Where does the responsibility of the consumer fall in this case? At what point does the consumer have a responsibility to know what he or she is getting into before they sign a contract? If you go to the store under the pretense that you're signing up for an "unlimited" plan, but upon reading the contract find out that it's not really unlimited, what have you lost? How have your rights been violated? You've given up some of your time, sure, but our time is the price we pay in the name of due diligence and responsible behavior. Where do we draw the "false advertising" line?