AT&T Sues Charter Over ‘Fiber’ Internet
Two of the country’s largest internet service providers are going to court over the use of the word “fiber” in advertising.
AT&T has filed a lawsuit against Charter, alleging that the latter's advertising of "fiber-powered" internet services is misleading customers. The dispute stems from a recent ad campaign by Charter, which sells internet under the Spectrum brand. Charter's Spectrum plans are advertised as having high download speeds of over 1,000Mbps, but the upload speeds are much lower, at just 40Mbps.
This is in contrast to fiber internet, which provides symmetrical upload and download speeds. Cable internet providers, including Charter, use fiber-optic cables for the majority of their network but switch to copper coaxial cables for the last mile to deliver the service to customers' homes. AT&T argues that customers should not have to be experts or read fine print to understand what they are purchasing when internet is advertised as fiber.
Spectrum's website does indicate that some addresses in the Dallas area do offer fiber plans, and according to FCC data, Spectrum has access to fiber plans in 2.3% of US households, while cable plans are accessible to 29.9% of households. Charter has faced criticism before for misleadingly promoting its internet services as fiber.
In March, Spectrum agreed to modify its statements after AT&T challenged the advertising through the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division. The revised ads now clearly disclose that Spectrum's "fiber-powered" internet services are not delivered to customers' homes via a fiber-to-the-home infrastructure. Spectrum's internet page currently notes that the connection to the premises is delivered via coaxial lines.
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