TracFone, the largest prepaid mobile provider in the US, has agreed to pay USD 40 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that it deceived millions of consumers with promises of "unlimited" data service.
The FTC's complaint against TracFone alleges that since 2009, TracFone has advertised prepaid monthly mobile plans for about USD 45 per month with "unlimited" data under various brands, including Straight Talk, Net10, Simple Mobile and Telcel America. However, despite emphasizing unlimited data in its advertisements, TracFone drastically slowed or cut off consumers' mobile data after they used more than certain fixed limits in a 30-day period.
Beginning 28 January, consumers who had a Straight Talk, Net10, Simple Mobile or Telcel America unlimited plan before January 2015 can visit www.ftc.gov/prepaidphones to file a claim for a refund. Refunds will be paid to consumers whose data service was slowed or cut off. Consumers who had an unlimited plan but are unsure if their data service was slowed or cut off should still file a claim to find out if they are eligible for a refund.
According to the FTC's complaint, TracFone marketed "unlimited" plans under its name brands through television and radio commercials, print advertisements, in-store displays and other media. Some of these brands' advertisements were aimed at specific populations. For example, Telcel America marketed to Spanish-speaking consumers.
Counter to the marketing promises, the FTC alleges that TracFone regularly either slowed down consumers' data speeds, known as throttling, or cut off their data when they used more than certain fixed amounts of data in a 30-day period. TracFone even terminated all the services (talk, text and data) of some consumers. As described in the FTC's complain, throttled customers often experienced slow-downs of at least 60 percent and sometimes even 90 percent, significantly impairing their ability to engage in online activities like streaming video.
The FTC alleges that TracFone varied its data limits, but generally slowed data service when a customer used one to three gigabytes, and suspended data service at four to five gigabytes. When consumers approached TracFone's limits, they would often receive a call that warned them for the first time about their "excessive data usage" but did not disclose TracFone's data limits, according to the agency's complaint.
The complaint states that there was no technical reason for TracFone to limit data, such as to reduce network congestion; rather, internal documents showed that the company's data policies were created to "reduce the high costs associated" with providing the unlimited data that it had promised.
Beginning in September 2013, TracFone began to make some disclosure of its throttling practices for its "unlimited " programmes, but those disclosures were often not clear and conspicuous, according to the FTC's complaint. In many cases, the disclosures were in very small print or on the back of packages or cards where consumers were likely to miss them.
In addition to the USD 40 million in consumer refunds that it must pay under its settlement with the FTC, TracFone is prohibited from making further deceptive advertising claims about its mobile data plans, and must clearly and conspicuously disclose any limits on the speed or quantity of its data service.
The Commission vote authorising staff to file the complaint and approving the proposed stipulated order was 5-0. The FTC filed the complaint and proposed stipulated order in the US District Court of the Northern District of California.
