The government mandates a "Nutrition Facts" label on all packaged food sold in the US. Since 1958, it has required a "Monroney sticker" on the window of each new car. Even home appliances come with a yellow "EnergyGuide" tag showing the device's estimated yearly energy use and cost to operate.

But what about broadband?

Truth in labeling

The New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute suggested last week the government require a broadband disclosure sticker that would let consumers know what they are truly signing up for when they switch to a new Internet provider. Here it is, in all of its black-and-white glory:

The suggested form is self-explanatory to geeks, though we do wonder whether requiring disclosure of the "maximum round-trip latency to border router" will do more than induce eye glaze among most broadband users. According to New America, "Broadband subscribers are often frustrated that the actual performance of their internet access service regularly falls far below the advertised speeds. Consumers set their expectations based on phrases like 'up to 16 Mbps,' and are disappointed to learn that these quotes are worthless as assurances. Currently, there is no lawful requirement for ISPs to reveal the contents of the broadband services they are providing; customers might be harmed by the invalid or ambiguous languages."

One of the key parts of FCC Chairman Julius Genchowski's proposed network neutrality rules is a disclosure requirement about traffic shaping and data limits, and ISPs have generally reacted quite positively to the idea of disclosure (especially if it helps stave off actual regulation). These disclosures are included on the sample form, and it's hard to imagine ISPs really putting up a fight against providing most of this information.

But they will certainly balk at listing minimum speeds and offering "service guarantees" to consumers. New America's plan would be for these minimums to "be supported by the ISP as guarantees in the delivery of broadband services, backed by technical support and service charge refunds or credits." In other words, even consumer broadband should get service level agreements (SLAs), complete with refunds for downtime and slow speeds.

Will this ever become a law? Unlikely (and that's being polite), though ISPs do have some responsibility to provide the service they are actually advertising, as do all companies. A look at the UK shows one way that the issue could be handled through disclosure, but without any sort of guarantees.

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom recently worked out a voluntary deal with the leading UK ISPs to adopt a "code of practice" relating to broadband speeds. One of the key points in the code is providing information at the point of sale; before a customer can sign up for DSL, he or she must be given a line speed estimate based on the customer's address. This number, which will always be below the advertised "up to" rate, is supposed to tell people what the maximum real top speed is at their particular location—though with further explanation of the factors that influence Internet access speeds.

"Explain to the consumer in a clear and meaningful way that the actual throughput speed that a consumer receives is likely to be lower than the estimated access line speed and headline speed," says the code. "ISPs should explain that the actual throughput speed experienced by a consumer will be influenced by a number of factors including the ISP’s network capacity, the ISP’s traffic shaping and management policy, the number of subscribers online at any one time, by time of day etc. ISPs should also indicate to consumers the times of day when the network is likely to be most congested."

Ofcom will evaluate these estimates for accuracy and step in it finds any problems.

In addition, ISPs must disclose up front "information relating to their respective policies on fair usage, traffic management, and traffic shaping." This information should list "the types of applications, services, and protocols that are affected" and provide "specific information on peak traffic periods."