FCC Helping Out Us, The Consumer: Comcast and T-Mobile

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulates all telecommunications in The United States of America, from Radio, TV, to Telephone and plenty in between. They step in between mergers, when they think business steps out of line, and much more. The past two weeks have been big weeks for the FCC, all benefiting and looking out for the consumers.

Comcast and T-Mobile both have had to dish out millions of dollars to the FCC for taking advantage of their customers. We'll begin with the biggest company out of the two, Comcast.

On October 11th, Comcast was handed a $2.3M fine by the FCC, for literally charging customers for products and services they never ordered or requested. This came after the FCC received a large amount of complaints saying Comcast was charging for set-top boxes, DVRs, service charges, and a few others, that they never ordered or requested. That is bad business on Comcast's part, and hard to believe they thought the could get away with it. Really trying to make that money any way possible maybe, but is a fine really worth all that?

There have also been reports, according to Fox Business, that Comcast is facing class action law suits due to this, from subscribers in seven states. Comcast straight up misled the consumer and stiffed them.

Sadly, people will still choose Comcast, as they should in a capitalist society. It's just hard to go for a company that stiffs its customers, but they do have great infrastructure, cable, and networks which help lead to the number of customers they have. Although in some areas around the US, Comcast is the only Internet and cable provider around, so not really a choice there.

I'm sure Comcast will address this appropriately, and offer deals and promotions for their products and services. What Comcast really should do, is speed up and invest time and money into their Gigabit Internet service, and see what that'll do for their revenue.
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Comcast's one month to date stock is below, clearly they took a hit due to this.

Okay, shifting on over to T-Mobile. On October 19th, T-Mobile and the FCC reached a $48M settlement, yes $48 million. Not a complete fine, but a much bigger chunk of cash going to the FCC than Comcast. According to Fox Business, this comes after probing T-Mobile to see if they "adequately disclosed" their unlimited data plans. In a nut shell, T-Mobile lied and said you'll get unlimited data, but we're going to restrict and regulate that unlimited data once you exceed a certain data threshold.

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said, “Consumers should not have to guess whether so-called ‘unlimited’ data plans contain key restrictions, like speed constraints, data caps, and other material limitations", per FCC.gov. Which is totally true, and is just simple ethical common sense, much like Comcast greasy business practice.

At the end of the day, it's $7.5M fine, and a $35.5M in consumer benefits for all T-Mobile customers, including Metro PCS, and $5M will go to US schools, all per Fox Business. T-Mobile has been climbing the ladder of US wireless carriers, and this is a broken step along the way.

T-Mobile's stock took a hit today (10/19) from this, but it looks like it's gaining steam heading into tomorrow (10/20).
Take a look:

T-Mobile, is going to have to now revamp their unlimited data plans, and either overhaul it or make it truly "unlimited". T-Mobile should start offering discounts and sales on plans and phones. T-Mobile should also promote and advertise hard for the holiday season, and make a gamble it'll pay off. T-Mobile needs to find a way to get back toe to toe with Sprint and make that run for the number 3 carrier in the US.

Well, a round of applause for the FCC for doing their jobs and looking out for the people. We than you for your service, do more of this work and keep out of politics and the FCC will be A-okay.

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SOURCES:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/19/comcast-faces-possible-class-action-lawsuit-over-hidden-fees.htmlSources:
https://www.fcc.gov/document/comcast-pay-23m-fine-resolve-billing-complaints
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-reaches-48m-settlement-t-mobile-over-‘unlimited-data-plans
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/10/19/t-mobile-to-pay-48m-settlement-over-disclosures.html
Image Sources:
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