FCC Official Responds to From The G-Man Emergency Broadband Benefit Program Investigation
By Gary Glennell Toms
In November of 2021, From The G-Man conducted an investigation of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB). The news site spoke with customer service representatives from Spectrum and Optimum Online and both stated that once the application for the EBB has been submitted and approved, the $50 benefit is not credited to the customer’s account for two billing cycles. “The reason it takes so long for the benefit to kick in is because we have to review and verify all of the customer information obtained from the Lifeline National Verifier,” they each stated. The Lifeline National Verifier determines which applicants are approved for the EBB. “With so much information to go through, it can take some time. Once we confirm and match all names, submitted documents and proof of eligibility, we process the order so that the benefit can be applied to the account,” the Spectrum representative added.
She went on to note that the customer would be responsible for paying the service charges incurred during the first two billing cycles. In the case of Spectrum, that would be $49.99 per month and a late fee of nearly $9.00 would be tacked on if a payment was not made by the specified date. In the end, a person on a fixed income or with limited financial resources would incur a $170.00 debt before the monthly $50 benefit was applied to the account. This includes the $49.99 charge to have the tech visit the home and install the equipment. Additional charges, such as activation fees, would also be applied.
From The G-Man informed both representatives that these policies were not listed in detail on the Spectrum or Optimum Online websites, nor the websites of other Internet service providers affiliated with the EBB program, and asked why the company has made no attempt to inform millions, particularly those in low-income areas, about the two billing cycle policy. “I cannot answer that because I don’t know,” the Spectrum representative stated. The Optimum Online representative issued the same response. The Spectrum representative was then asked whom she believes should be held accountable for not making EBB applicants aware of the two billing cycle policy and that additional charges will be applied that are not covered by the EBB: members of Congress, Lifeline National Verifier or Internet service providers like Spectrum. “I’m not able to answer that question. But you have a valid point,” she concluded.
On March 14, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a national advisory entitled Inspector General Advisory on Providers Deceiving Lifeline Consumers, which alerted Lifeline, Emergency Broadband Benefit, and Affordable Connectivity Program consumers and providers to improper and abusive enrollment practices that are part of some providers’ online enrollment processes. In the wake of the advisory’s release, From The G-Man submitted its report to FCC official Peter H. Feinberg and asked if the agency would review it and provide comments. Mr. Feinberg emailed the following statements.
Thanks for your email reporting on this abuse by some companies that enrolled subscribers in their service but delayed providing the EBB credit on their accounts. As a result of this type of abuse, the FCC adopted a specific rule to prohibit this practice when it issued the rules governing the Affordability Connectivity Program (ACP). In its Order adopting the rules, the FCC stated at paragraph 146:
We appreciate there are billing considerations a provider must take into account when applying the affordable connectivity benefit to a household’s account that must be balanced against the consumer’s need to have the benefit applied in a timely manner. We find that requiring providers to apply the benefit no later than the start of the first billing cycle after the household’s enrollment or transfer strikes that balance. Just as in the EBB Program and Lifeline, a provider must pass through the discount in order to claim reimbursement for the discount in the Affordable Connectivity Program. Providers may not, for example, charge a customer for the internet service offering, certify a claim for reimbursement, and then later provide the discount to the customer only after receiving the reimbursement. Failure to comply with these rules may result in administrative forfeitures or other penalties. Moreover, to further protect consumers, providers cannot de-enroll a household for non-payment if the provider has failed to timely apply the benefit to the household’s bill consistent with this Order. To track households that could be de-enrolled for non-payment associated with the ACP supported service, as well as to support tracking households which would be subject to the non-usage rules, we direct USAC [Universal Service Administrative Co.] to collect from providers information regarding whether a household is assessed and charged a fee for the ACP-supported service. Providers shall retain documentation demonstrating the pass-through of the benefit to the consumer’s account.
As I stated, there was no comparable discussion or rule requirement in the EBB Order when it was adopted, so if the companies did not claim for the benefit until the customers were accepted into the program, as a technical matter, the Enforcement Bureau would not have pursued it as a rule violation. However, if you happen to have information as to any specific customers that this happened to, I can check USAC’s records to determine whether these companies actually claimed the credit while they delayed applying it to customer accounts, and I could refer these violations to the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau that investigates and prosecutes violations of the FCC’s rules.
Thank you again for contacting me. The new ACP governing this consumer protection provision will become effective on March 16. Should you come across any of these practices continuing after this date, please let me know.
If you feel you have been abused by a provider and would like the matter investigated, you can contact the From The G-Man news office at FromTheGMan@protonmail.com or (973) 530-7658. You will be informed on how to proceed.