Internet service customers have filed 20,991 net neutrality complaints since the rules went into effect on June 12 of last year, according to new data released by the Federal Communications Commission.

The data includes 86,114 Internet service complaints filed since October 31, 2014 against home Internet and cellular ISPs. Net neutrality has been the most common type of complaint since the rules went into effect and is near the top of the list even when counting the first seven months of the data set in which net neutrality complaints weren't yet being accepted. In the full data set, billing complaints led the way at 22,989—with 16,393 since June 12. The other top categories for the entire period since late 2014 were service availability with 14,251 complaints, speed with 11,200 complaints, and privacy with 7,968 privacy complaints.

Despite the large numbers, this data doesn't show that there were any net neutrality violations. The FCC's website notes that the agency doesn't verify the facts in each complaint; these are just raw numbers based on the categories selected by customers when they file complaints. As we've written before, complaints filed under the net neutrality category are often unrelated to the core net neutrality rules that prohibit blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. Consumers often complain about slow speeds, high prices, and data caps under the net neutrality category.



The FCC hasn't identified any violations of the core rules since passing its latest set of net neutrality regulations early last year. But complaints can be useful for customers, particularly for billing problems, because ISPs are required to respond to each one within 30 days. Some customers have found that complaining to the FCC can be more effective than going through normal customer service channels. (Complaints can be filed here.)

The FCC released the new data in a Consumer Complaint Data Center announced yesterday. It will be updated daily.

"By engaging with the data, consumers can better understand telecommunications issues they may be facing as well as how many other consumers share similar concerns," the FCC said. "Researchers and developers can also benefit with the ability to extract and manipulate data, allowing them to identify complaint trends and analyze the data."

Previously, getting detailed statistics required filing public records requests, which we did for our "Complaint factory" article. The Consumer Complaint Data Center provides a broader look at the types of complaints the FCC receives, but it doesn't show the text of complaints. For that, public records requests are still the way to go.

There were even more complaints about phone service than broadband, largely because of unwanted phone calls. Among 345,807 phone complaints, there were 169,975 about telemarketing calls and 78,876 about robocalls. There were also 34,339 billing complaints about phone service and lower numbers of complaints about availability, equipment, number portability, privacy, cramming, slamming, and more.

Though net neutrality complaints lag far behind robocalls, the 20,991 are still a lot compared to most other types of complaints received by the FCC. For example, there were more complaints in the net neutrality category than for any single type of TV service problem. The commission received a total of 45,085 TV service complaints, with TV billing problems leading the way at 17,209.

While the FCC's data doesn't show proof of any violations, it's another indication that many customers are deeply unhappy with telecommunications providers. Internet service and pay-TV providers are rated more poorly by customers than any other industry measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index—below airlines, health insurers, utilities, banks, and many other types of companies.