Level 3 says ISPs should not be able to hide poor performance

Level 3 may serve as an intermediary between residential consumer service providers and content providers like Netflix, but it has told the Federal Communications Commission that traditional Internet service providers should provide information to consumers on broadband network performance. In a recent FCC filing, the service provider said that making information available to consumers on whether they are getting the same user experience as others in their community is important.

"Too few consumers have a real choice for broadband service at their home. But for those who do, disclosures should help them make that choice," said Level 3 in the filing. "Consumers should have access to data that tells them, for each provider, whether the provider offers consistent, high-speed performance to Internet broadly, or whether the provider offers inconsistent performance, with better connectivity to some resources than to others." Specifically, Level 3 said that ISPs should not be able to hide poor, inconsistent performance behind methodologies that provide a misleading "average" performance statistic.