Research and methods
Understand the terms behind an internet price
InternetService.ai publishes dated, source-linked research on what internet offers say about price and terms. The first audit recorded 7 public offer pages on Sep 21, 2026, and found headline rates lasting 2, 12 or 60 months. The data downloads as a CSV, and every national figure our guides use is listed here with its source.
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2 months
EarthLink’s fiber headline rate on Sep 21, followed by a full-price plan the page did not price. An Oct 28 fetch did not show that headline.
12 months
Spectrum Internet 500’s first-year service rate, with no month-13 rate named
60 months
Optimum Fiber 500’s service price lock on Sep 21, with the gateway on its own 12-month clock. Optimum has since changed this offer.
Update, : Fetched Oct 28, 2026, EarthLink's fiber page did not show the 24 dollars and 95 cents two-month headline recorded on Sep 21. The page lists 100 Mbps, 300 Mbps, 1 Gig and 5 Gig plans and says rates stay consistent for 12 months, without a dollar amount for that rate in the text we received. A plain download of the same URL still returns HTTP 403, which is why the Sep 21 row was captured in a browser. That row stays the audit record.
Update, : Fetched Oct 28, 2026, AT&T's fiber page shows two Internet 300 cards. The card limited to AutoPay and paperless billing, with no wireless requirement in the legal line, displays 50 dollars a month beside a 60 dollar comparison, after a 10 dollar monthly discount, plus taxes and fees, in limited areas. A second card still displays 35 dollars beside a 60 dollar comparison, and its legal line requires an eligible wireless service plus AutoPay and paperless billing. The Sep 21 row recorded 35 dollars after AutoPay and paperless billing and did not state a wireless requirement. That row stays the audit record.
Update, : Optimum has changed this offer again since the Oct 6 note. Fetched Oct 28, 2026, its fiber page shows a promotional 500 Mbps service rate of 25 dollars a month plus taxes and fees for 12 months, then an increase of no more than 15 dollars a month per year until standard rates. It calls that a 1-year price lock. Gateway terms on the same page are not a single figure: one block charges nothing for 12 months, and another charges 5 dollars a month for 12 months, after which either can rise by up to 5 dollars a month per year until standard rates. The Sep 21 row, 40 dollars for 60 months, stays the audit record. The Oct 6 description of a price lock of up to 3 years that required SecureWifi+ is no longer what the page states.
What we research and why
An internet price is a number with a clock attached. A headline can cover two months, a year or five years of base service, and the page may say nothing about what comes next. Equipment, Wi-Fi and discounts can run on clocks of their own, so two headline numbers compared without those clocks can mislead.
So we record what public offer pages state: how long a rate lasts, what is known about the later price, and which conditions change the bill. We read public pages only. We do not collect customer bills, submit addresses or place orders. The work shows how offers are presented, not what any one household pays.
The first audit sampled one offer each from Spectrum, AT&T, Xfinity, EPB, Kinetic, EarthLink and Optimum. It compares the structure of their terms, not which is cheaper. Read the full price-term audit for every row, the worked arithmetic and the source notes.
Studies from calls and orders
A second set of studies looks at de-identified calls and orders from our call center. The tables are aggregate counts. They describe the people who reached those lines, not every household in the country. Each page includes the method, a CSV download, and practical steps.
- Why so many internet customers call the wrong number for help. Existing customers often reach a sales line when they needed a bill, an outage, or equipment help, and the page shows how to use the number on your own bill instead.
- What satellite internet buyers actually ordered. The orders show which satellite providers and plan names shoppers chose, including how often a Viasat plan name stopped at 25 Mbps.
- How often a credit check or a deposit ended the shopping call. Use it before you apply if you want to know how common those stops were, and which questions to ask about prepaid service.
What the first audit found
The table counts four patterns across the seven pages; the audit page shows each row in full.
| Pattern | Offers | Which ones |
|---|---|---|
| The page stated how long the displayed rate lasts | 3 of 7 | EarthLink (2 months), Spectrum (12 months) and Optimum (60 months) |
| The page stated no rate period for the displayed price | 4 of 7 | AT&T (Fiber 300), EPB (300 Mbps), Kinetic (Fiber 300) and Xfinity (NOW prepaid) |
| The displayed rate depended on AutoPay in some way | 4 of 7 | AT&T (AutoPay and paperless billing required), Kinetic (discount built into the displayed rate), Optimum (discount set by payment method) and Xfinity NOW (AutoPay and paperless billing required) |
| Equipment ran on a clock of its own | 1 of 7 | Optimum (gateway free for 12 months, then capped yearly increases) |
When a page states no period, a buyer cannot tell a one-month promotion from a lasting rate without the label or the order summary. When a discount depends on how you pay, the displayed number describes one payment method, not every customer.
How to use this research
- Find how long the displayed rate lasts, and whether it is a service rate or an all-in price.
- Read the provider’s broadband label and final quote for your address, including equipment.
- Enter the confirmed rates and fees in the internet cost calculator. Leave unknowns blank.
Dataset: public price terms, September 2026
- Observed
- Sep 21, 2026, one visit per page
- Size
- 7 rows, one per sampled offer, and 22 columns
- Format
- CSV, UTF-8, one header row
- Download
- Download the observations (CSV)
- Version
- 1.0, published November 2, 2026
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- Archive
- Zenodo record
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| 1 | An identifier for the sampled offer |
| 2 | The date we observed the page (Sep 21, 2026) |
| 3 | The provider |
| 4 | The offer we selected on the page |
| 5 | Market scope: where, and to whom, the page says the offer applies |
| 6 | The page we read |
| 7 | A supporting page, where one clarified the main page |
| 8 | How the page was captured: a direct download, or the page text read in a browser |
| 9 | A SHA-256 fingerprint of the downloaded page, where we have one |
| 10 | The displayed monthly rate, in dollars |
| 11 | The stated rate window, such as a two-month introduction or a first year |
| 12 | The number of months in that window, where the page states it |
| 13 | What the page says about the price after the window |
| 14 | The AutoPay or paperless-billing condition |
| 15 | Equipment and Wi-Fi terms |
| 16 | Installation terms |
| 17 | Whether the page asks for an address before showing terms |
| 18 | What the page says about taxes and fees |
| 19 | Evidence notes: where on the page each term appears, with a paraphrase |
| 20 | Base-service subtotal for the stated window, where a window is stated |
| 21 | Base-service subtotal for 12 months, only when the page states every month |
| 22 | Base-service subtotal for 24 months, on the same rule |
A blank cell means the page did not establish that value. We never turn a blank into zero, and the subtotal columns stay empty when a later rate is unknown.
Reference figures our guides use
These national figures appear across our guides. Each row names its source and the date its data describes.
| Figure | Value | Level and date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential locations where providers report fiber | 55.9% | FCC-reported; data as of Dec 31, 2025 | FCC National Broadband Map |
| Residential locations where providers report cable | 83.1% | FCC-reported; data as of Dec 31, 2025 | FCC National Broadband Map |
| Residential locations with non-satellite service at 100/20 Mbps or faster | 96.1% | FCC-reported; data as of Dec 31, 2025 | FCC National Broadband Map |
| Households with a broadband subscription | 91.0% | 2020–2024 ACS 5-year estimates | Census ACS, table B28002 |
| Households with no internet access | 6.5% | 2020–2024 ACS 5-year estimates | Census ACS, table B28002 |
| Change in the CPI for internet services | +1.5% | August 2025 to August 2026, not seasonally adjusted | BLS |
| Change in the CPI for all items | +3.4% | August 2025 to August 2026, not seasonally adjusted | BLS |
| CPI internet services index level | 87.5 (December 1997 = 100) | August 2026 | BLS |
| FCC broadband speed benchmark | 100/20 Mbps | Set Mar 14, 2024 | FCC |
The FCC figures are shares of locations where providers report service; they do not count homes that have ordered it. The CPI is a quality-adjusted price index rather than an average bill, so it can stay flat while a household’s bill jumps when a promotion ends. How to choose internet service uses the FCC figures, and why your internet bill went up uses the CPI.
How we publish a number
- Every figure carries its source and the date we checked it. Provider pages are dated to the day.
- Availability figures state their level: FCC-reported, meaning what providers file with the FCC, or listed by the provider on its own page. We never present either one as confirmed for an address.
- We do not invent a later rate. If a page does not state the price after a promotion, the cell stays blank and the total stays incomplete.
- Dollar amounts in guides appear only in labelled hypothetical examples. Research pages may show observed prices, always with the date they were seen.
- When a fact passes its re-check date, we mark it as expired rather than reuse it.
Our editorial methodology covers the rest of the method.
The broadband label, then and now
The broadband label gathers an offer’s terms in one place, so its rules shape what this research can check. The label must show prices, speeds, fees, data allowances, and bundle, discount and introductory-rate details.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 10, 2024 | Larger providers must show the label at the point of sale | FCC |
| October 10, 2024 | Providers with fewer than 100,000 subscribers follow | FCC |
| July 22, 2026 | The FCC adopts a revised label order, FCC 26-48 | FCC |
| Sep 14, 2026 | The order’s updated definitions take effect. Its label changes, including a link or icon in place of the full label and “up to” fee totals, are delayed with no date set | Federal Register |
One adopted change matters for price research. Once it takes effect, providers may show variable passthrough fees as an “up to” amount. A study that records fees should then note whether a figure is exact or a ceiling.
Limitations
- The first audit covers seven offers chosen by hand. Seven pages picked that way are too few to rank providers or estimate a national average.
- Public pages change often. Each row describes a page on the day we read it and nothing after.
- We saw no customer bills, no taxes worked out for an address and no final checkout totals.
- A page that leaves a term out may state it elsewhere, such as on the label or in the order summary.
- The national figures come from surveys and filings with their own methods and margins. We quote them as published.
Update schedule and corrections
The provider-page terms in the audit are due for a re-check by Nov 5, 2026, 45 days after we observed them. A re-check is published as a new version of this Zenodo dataset. Newer observations never overwrite the September 21 rows, which stay version 1.0. To report an error, send the page and the row through the contact link in the site footer. We correct the affected row and note the date of the change.
How to cite this research
Mendoza, P. (2026). The same monthly internet price can run on a different clock: a seven-offer audit of advertised price terms on US provider pages (observed 21 September 2026) (Version 1.0) [Dataset]. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23897933
The study page is the canonical web version of this audit. To apply the findings to your own offers, use the guide to the full cost of home internet, then check plans at your address.
Sources and scope
- FCC National Broadband Map: fixed broadband summary by geography type, national rows. Checked Sep 23, 2026. Supports fiber, cable and non-satellite shares of residential locations, data as of Dec 31, 2025.
- US Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B28002. Checked Sep 24, 2026. Supports household broadband and no-internet shares.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics: consumer price index for internet services and all items. Checked Sep 24, 2026. Supports the August 2025 to August 2026 changes and the index level.
- FCC: FCC increases broadband speed benchmark (news release, Mar 14, 2024). Checked Sep 24, 2026. Supports the 100/20 Mbps benchmark.
- FCC: Consumer broadband labels now required nationwide (news release). Checked Sep 24, 2026. Supports what the label shows and the 2024 compliance dates.
- FCC: Report and Order FCC 26-48 (broadband label revisions). Checked Sep 24, 2026. Supports the July 22, 2026 adoption and the label changes it contains.
- Federal Register: 91 FR 52251, FR Doc 2026-16503. Checked Sep 24, 2026. Supports the Sep 14, 2026 effective date for the updated definitions, and the delay of the label changes.
- The seven provider offer pages in the audit, listed with their locators on the audit page. Checked Sep 21, 2026. Supports the price clocks above.