How to choose · 7 min read
What apartment internet rules do and do not change
The FCC limits what a provider can sign with a landlord. It does not force the landlord to let a second company in.
By Pablo Mendoza · Reviewed by George Olfson
Published · Updated
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In an apartment, FCC rules bind the provider, not the landlord. A provider may not take exclusive access to the building. The landlord may still allow only one company. Check the unit. A ZIP code is not the building.
Which buildings these rules cover
The FCC uses “multiple tenant environment,” or MTE, for a commercial or residential property occupied by more than one entity. The consumer FAQ, reviewed April 4, 2024 and re-read Nov 2, 2026, names apartment buildings, condominiums, shopping malls, and cooperatives. It also includes centrally managed places such as gated communities, mobile home parks, and garden apartments.
That definition is about the premises, not about a city or a ZIP code. Two units on the same floor can sit under one building contract. A house across the street can sit under none. Our guide to how internet reaches a house explains the last mile. This page is the extra layer a building contract adds on top of that mile.
On Feb 15, 2022, Chairwoman Rosenworcel described the stakes in the FCC’s own words: “One third of this country live in multi-tenant buildings where there often is only one choice for a broadband provider, and no ability to shop for a better deal.” That sentence is her statement in the news release. It is not a Census table, and this page does not treat it as one.
A landlord can still allow only one company
This is the fact people most often have backwards. The consumer FAQ says the rules apply to certain providers and not to landlords. A landlord may refuse other providers, even when that leaves a single company in the building. A provider, on the other side, may not sign an agreement that grants it exclusive access to the property.
So a “no other companies” rule can be legal when the landlord is the one enforcing it. It is the provider’s exclusive-access contract that the FCC bars. If the leasing office says the building has one internet company, that sentence alone does not prove an illegal contract. It does tell you to ask whether other companies are physically allowed in.
The practical check is the unit, not the brochure. Checking internet before you move is the sequence for a new address. How to choose a connection comes after you know which technologies the unit can actually get. A dish on a balcony is a different permission problem from a wire in a riser. Where Starlink reports service is the footprint filing, not a promise the building will allow a dish.
Exclusive access, revenue shares, and bulk bills
Providers are prohibited from contracts that give them the exclusive right to access and serve the building. The FAQ says those contracts stop other companies from serving tenants and limit choice. The Feb 15, 2022 release says the order also bans certain revenue-sharing agreements that keep competitors out.
Two revenue-share shapes are named. An exclusive revenue share pays the landlord for access and bars a similar deal with other providers. A graduated revenue share pays a larger share as the provider serves more tenants in the building. Both are prohibited. A plain English test: if the landlord earns more by keeping the building with one company, ask whether the contract is one of those two shapes. The leasing office is not required to show you the contract. The provider is the party under the rule.
| Question | What the rule does | What it leaves in place | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can the building have one company? | A provider may not sign an exclusive-access contract. | The landlord may still refuse every other provider. | FCC consumer FAQ |
| Is bulk billing banned? | A bulk contract that also grants exclusive access is prohibited. | Bulk billing itself is not generally prohibited. | FCC consumer FAQ |
| Do the rules set the monthly price? | They limit certain contracts and require some disclosures. | They do not set the monthly price. | FCC consumer FAQ |
| Is a ZIP code enough? | The rules apply to the premises. | A ZIP code is not the unit. | FCC consumer FAQ, plus this site’s address check |
Bulk billing needs its own paragraph because the name sounds like a ban. The FCC does not currently prohibit bulk billing. In that arrangement a company serves every tenant, and each tenant is billed a share of the total, by the landlord or by the provider. The prohibited version is a bulk contract that also gives the provider the exclusive right to access and serve the building. You can be required to pay for a bulk service you did not pick, and that requirement can still comply with the rule.
What exclusive marketing has to disclose
An exclusive marketing arrangement lets only that provider advertise in the building. The FAQ says these deals can mislead tenants about whether anyone else can serve them. The FCC requires a conspicuous, easy-to-understand disclosure on written marketing that the provider creates for tenants, when such an arrangement is in place.
The Federal Register notice of Aug 22, 2022 (87 FR 51267, document 2022-17734) sets the compliance dates for that disclosure under 47 CFR 64.2500(e) and 47 CFR 76.2000(d). Compliance for new contracts is required as of Aug 22, 2022. Compliance for existing contracts is required as of Sep 26, 2022. The notice says the disclosure must explain that the exclusive marketing right does not mean the provider is the only entity that can provide communications services, and that service from another provider may be available.
Read the flyer with that sentence in mind. A logo in the lobby is not proof that the building is a monopoly. It is proof that you should look for the disclosure and then check the unit. The rule does not set the monthly price, and it does not tell you the speed. Those live on the offer for the address.
What happens to the wires when service ends
Inside wiring is the other half of the 2022 action. The consumer FAQ says that when a landlord or tenant ends the relationship, the provider generally must do one of three things. It can remove the wiring. It can abandon the wiring without disabling it or blocking access to it. Or it can offer the wiring for purchase by the tenant, the landlord, or another provider.
The Feb 15, 2022 release adds a clarification. Existing cable inside-wiring rules prohibit sale-and-leaseback arrangements that block competitors from that wiring. The release calls this a declaratory ruling, separate from the new revenue-share ban. If a building tells you the wires are owned in a way that no other company can use them, that is the fact to write down before you complain. The FAQ does not promise a second provider will then show up.
None of these sentences replace the label on a plan. They explain why the leasing office and the provider can give you different answers. The office controls who may enter. The provider controls which contracts it is allowed to sign, what the marketing must say, and what it must do with the wire when the relationship ends.
What to do before you sign a lease or a plan
Ask the leasing office three questions and write down the answers. Which companies are allowed to serve this unit today? Is internet included in the rent as a bulk charge, and can you decline it? Are you allowed to install your own equipment, including a dish, or is that a building rule? Then run the address, with the unit number, through the providers that say they can enter.
If you think a provider signed an exclusive-access deal or a banned revenue share, the FAQ points you to an informal complaint at the FCC Consumer Complaint Center. If you want to describe conduct that may not break a rule, the same FAQ points to docket GN 17-142 and the Electronic Comment Filing System. This page does not add a phone number. Use the complaint site the FCC names.
Order only after the unit check. A building flyer, a ZIP code, and a city page can all be true and still miss your floor. When the shortlist is real, compare the technologies the way you would in a house. The building rule decides who is allowed in. The last mile decides what they can deliver once they are.
What to do next
Run the unit, not the ZIP code, when you Check plans at your address. The MTE rules above are the FCC’s, re-read on Nov 2, 2026. If the rent already includes service, what included internet decides is the lease choice. Our methodology keeps a building rule separate from a guess about which plan the unit can buy.
For the broader decision, read How to choose internet service for your home, step by step.
Common questions
Can my landlord keep other internet providers out of the building?
Yes. The FCC consumer FAQ, reviewed April 4, 2024, says the rules bind providers and not landlords. A landlord may refuse other companies even if that leaves one provider. A provider still may not sign a contract that grants it exclusive access to the building.
Does the FCC ban bulk internet billing in apartments?
No. The same FAQ says bulk billing is not generally prohibited. Tenants can be billed a share for service to every unit. What is prohibited is a bulk contract that also gives the provider the exclusive right to access and serve the building.
What should an exclusive-marketing disclosure say?
The Federal Register notice of Aug 22, 2022 says the disclosure must explain that an exclusive marketing right does not mean the provider is the only one that can serve the building, and that another provider may be available. New contracts had to comply on Aug 22, 2022. Existing contracts had to comply on Sep 26, 2022.
Who do I tell if a provider’s building contract looks illegal?
The FCC consumer FAQ says to file an informal complaint with the Consumer Complaint Center. For conduct that may not violate a rule, it points to docket GN 17-142 and the Electronic Comment Filing System. The landlord’s refusal to allow a second company is not, by itself, the violation the FAQ describes.
Sources and scope
- FCC: Consumer FAQ on rules for service providers in multiple tenant environments Checked Who the rules bind, exclusive access, bulk billing, revenue sharing, marketing disclosure, and wiring. Page reviewed April 4, 2024. Re-read Nov 2, 2026.
- FCC: rules for broadband in apartment and office buildings (news release, Feb 15, 2022) Checked Chairwoman Rosenworcel's Feb 15, 2022 statement, the revenue-sharing limits, marketing disclosure, and the inside-wiring clarification. Re-read Nov 2, 2026.
- Federal Register: Improving Competitive Broadband Access to Multiple Tenant Environments, 87 FR 51267 Checked Disclosure compliance dates of Aug 22, 2022 for new contracts and Sep 26, 2022 for existing contracts under 47 CFR 64.2500(e) and 76.2000(d).