FCC Launches Consumer Complaint Data Center

The Federal Communications Commission today launched its new online Consumer Complaint Data Center to provide greater transparency into consumer complaints received by the Commission. This online platform will provide the public with more information about consumer complaints and tools to customize how they view the data.

Informal complaints submitted to the FCC are added to the database, which is updated on a daily basis. The database includes the service the consumer is complaining about (phone, TV, Internet, radio, emergency, or accessibility), the method by which the consumer receives the service (such as wireless vs. VoIP phone), the issue the consumer is complaining about and the consumer’s general location information. Consumer complaints are an essential resource for the Commission’s work. Such complaints can be used to inform policy decisions by the Commission, allow companies to facilitate resolutions to specific problems raised, and can be used by the Enforcement Bureau to track trends and enforce the Commission’s rules. In addition, raw data sets help stakeholders track consumer sentiment and provide useful analysis to the public. Today’s launch expands the data that the Commission produces from a handful of charts and graphs to a comprehensive database of individual complaints filed at the Commission since 2015. The Consumer Complaint Data Center allows users to easily track, search, sort and download information. Consumers can build their own visualizations, charts and graphs. The data is also available via API (application programming interface), which allows developers to build applications, conduct analyses and perform research. The data can also be embedded on other websites. The data center includes visualizations of various communications issues profiled in the consumer complaints as well as geographic search features by city, state and zip code