Reuters said each ISP has been requested to provide disclosures made to customers with respect to broadband service and to provide data on any speed tests they’ve conducted.
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“New Yorkers deserve the Internet speeds they pay for”, Schneiderman said in a statement on the probe. When we asked AG Eric Schneiderman’s office for more specifics, we were told that the investigation was spurred by “complaints from customers”, internal analysis, and a one-year-old report from the Measurement Lab Consortium.
The companies have all said they are confident in the speeds of their internet services.
Concerns over whether or not ISPs are delivering their promised speeds is not restricted to the US; The Guardian reported in June that over 15 million households in the United Kingdom are not getting promised broadband speeds.
In statements, spokesmen for the three companies expressed confidence in the speeds of their Internet services. According to the company, they are prepared to provide any performance information to the Attorney General.
The attorney general’s office is particularly concerned with the effect of “interconnection disputes” that can arise when one company has to use another company’s infrastructure.
There is a “possibility that interconnection arrangements may in a few instances render irrelevant any benefit” of paying for a “premium” option such as Verizon’s FiOS, Time Warner Cable’s “Extreme” and “Ultimate” offerings and Cablevision’s “Optimum Online Ultra” choices, said Wu, whose appointment was announced last month.
But it could be even more infuriating if you find out that your Internet provider is not giving you the broadband connection you paid for.
The state attorney general can take legal action against companies over deceptive business practices. Those deals allow the streaming video company to interconnect directly with the broadband providers’ networks. “We look forward to working cooperatively with the Attorney General’s office”. Net neutrality proponents, who are often in favor of wrangling large ISPs to prevent them from manipulating their networks, are reacting as well.
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Another study carried out by M-lab suggests that Internet services tend to suffer at points where broadband providers connected with long haul Internet traffic carriers.
