AT&T has filed a lawsuit against Charter, alleging that the company’s marketing of “fibre-powered” internet is misleading customers. The action was lodged on Friday and focuses on an advertising campaign from Charter, which sells home internet under the Spectrum brand name.
Fibre is widely regarded as the benchmark for home internet. It is the only connection type that delivers symmetrical upload and download speeds, making it particularly valuable for activities such as online gaming or video conferencing. On Spectrum’s cable plans, typical upload speeds top out at 40Mbps, while download speeds exceed 1,000Mbps.
What the dispute centres on
Over the past couple of years, cable internet providers have increasingly sought to capitalise on the reputation attached to fibre. It is technically accurate that Spectrum provides “fibre-powered” internet. Like all cable ISPs, Spectrum uses fibre-optic cables, thin glass strands that carry data through light signals, for the vast majority of its network. However, it switches to copper coaxial cables in most cases to cover the final stretch to a customer’s home.
Fibre providers such as AT&T, by contrast, run the fibre connection all the way to the socket in the wall. Many cable companies are in the process of upgrading that last mile to fibre. Spectrum currently reports to the FCC that 2.3% of US households have access to its fibre plans, while 29.9% can obtain its cable plans.
“We don’t think customers should have to be telecom experts or squint at the fine print to know what they’re buying,” an AT&T representative said. “When internet is marketed as fibre, customers deserve 100% fibre all the way to their home.”
Coverage figures and previous challenges
A check of several addresses on Spectrum’s website in Dallas, where AT&T is filing its lawsuit, returned fibre plans in some instances. According to FCC data, which is self-reported by ISPs, Spectrum covers around 608,000 households in Dallas, while AT&T covers almost 495,000.
This is not the first time Charter has faced scrutiny over presenting itself as a fibre provider. In March, Spectrum agreed to modify its “fibre-powered” statements after AT&T brought a challenge through the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division.
As part of that challenge, Spectrum agreed to “clearly and conspicuously” disclose that its “fibre-powered internet services are not delivered to customers’ homes over a fibre-to-the-home infrastructure.” The fine print on Spectrum’s internet page notes that the connection to the premises is delivered via coaxial lines.
