Consumer Reports, along with a laundry list of partners, has launched an online tool to help figure out how much people are actually paying for broadband.
The Broadband Together initiative is looking to collect copies of users‘ monthly bills “so we can find out what we’re really getting for our money, and advocate for a better internet that costs less,” CR said.
Also Read: Biden Budget Asserts Broadband Too Expensive
“For too long, the true cost and quality of internet service has been hidden and obscured,“ Consumer Reports president Marta Tellado said. “We want to shine a light on what’s really happening, so every American can have the quality internet they need to succeed today and into the future.”
A coalition of Broadband Together supporters (see below) will use that info to push ISPs and government officials for “greater access to fair, affordable, reliable internet services,” arguing that ”some consumers spend more money for less service, thanks to confusing pricing, and too many people simply cannot get online because there is no service where they live, or they cannot afford it.“
It will be preaching to the choir when it comes to the Biden administration, which is pushing billions of dollars in subsidies for competitive, high-speed, low-cost broadband, suggesting broadband is currently not fast enough or affordable enough or its provision competitive enough to be “available” to all even where it is technically available.
Also Read: White House Paints Depressing Portrait of Broadband
Broadband Together coalition partners include Access Now, American Library Association, Amerind, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, BroadbandNow, Color of Change, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, mLab, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, Rural Assembly, Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association, the American Economic Liberties Project, Coded Bias, Common Cause NY, Community Tech New York, Connect Humanity, the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP), Mozilla Foundation, National Consumers League (NCL), Next Century Cities, and the United Church of Christ.
