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Law360 (January 11, 2021, 9:53 PM EST) -- Democrats from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee are probing whether major internet service providers hiked prices or cut the cord on customers' service as the coronavirus continued its deadly march across the country.
Nine major internet service providers — among them Comcast, AT&T and Frontier Communications — received letters from the trio of congressmen Monday demanding answers about the companies' plans to roll back their pandemic policies.
Networks seem to have dealt with the massive increase in traffic just fine, according to the lawmakers, but "families without home internet service — particularly those with school-aged children at home — have been left out and left behind."
As the COVID-19 pandemic began taking hold this spring, the Federal Communications Commission asked phone and internet service providers to take a voluntary pledge not to cut off service due to nonpayment and waive late fees.
It extended the pledge through June, and many companies opted to keep certain pandemic policies in place after that. But as the year wound down, some opted to roll them back.
This represented an "egregious" move, according to the lawmakers, "at a time when households and small businesses across the country need high-speed, reliable broadband more than ever but are struggling to make ends meet."
Specifically, the letters cite Comcast's plan to put a data cap of 1.2 terabytes on home internet users starting in the new year.
The letters — signed by Chairman Frank Pallone Jr., D-NJ; Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; and Jerry McNerney, D-Calif. — are the second round of missives sent out by Democrats on the committee, following a first inquiry in March that predated the FCC's Keep Americans Connected pledge and asked telecoms to take action to make sure people didn't lose service.
The lawmakers want to know whether any of the companies have increased prices, implemented or reimplemented data caps, or disconnected service for lack of payment.
The FCC has praised telecoms for going "above and beyond the call" to help Americans keep their service going during the pandemic by extending its pledge beyond the June end date the agency proposed.
But Law360 found that despite public promises from certain companies, thousands of customers were still reporting losing service just when they needed it most.
AT&T said it's still reviewing the letter the lawmakers sent out but that it has "been at the forefront of keeping our customers and communities connected, working to close the homework gap and bridge the digital divide by making broadband more accessible and affordable."
The telecom giant also began reinstating limited data caps in the new year on home internet accounts with speeds slower than 100 Mbps but said that there are still several ways for customers to receive unlimited data.
Charter told Law360 that it understands the importance of keeping people connected during the pandemic and has forgiven more than $85 million in overdue balances this year and helped keep more than 700,000 customers connected when the pandemic made it hard to pay the bills.
Lumen said it's received the letter and plans on responding to the lawmakers' concerns.
T-Mobile, Verizon, Altice, Frontier, Cox and Comcast didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
--Additional reporting by Kelcee Griffis. Editing by Daniel King.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
