AT&T sues Charter over fiber marketing

AT&T filed a lawsuit against Charter Communications on Friday. The lawsuit alleges that Charter's marketing of "fiber-powered" internet for its Spectrum service is misleading customers.

This legal action centers on an advertising campaign from Charter. The company sells home internet under the Spectrum brand name.

The Core of the Dispute

Fiber internet is widely seen as the premium choice for home connections. Historically, it was the only technology capable of delivering matching upload and download speeds. New DOCSIS 4.0 technology now allows cable networks to achieve this after upgrades. On Spectrum's cable plans, however, typical upload speeds only reach 40Mbps while downloads exceed 1,000Mbps.

Cable providers have increasingly tried to leverage the positive reputation of fiber. It is technically accurate that Spectrum provides "fiber-powered" internet. Like all cable internet service providers, Spectrum uses fiber-optic cables for most of its network. These thin glass strands carry data using light. The connection typically switches to older copper coaxial cables for the final segment to a customer's home. Fiber providers like AT&T run fiber-optic lines directly to the wall jack inside a residence.

What the Data Shows

Many cable companies are upgrading that final segment to fiber. Charter reports to the Federal Communications Commission that 2.3% of US households have access to its fiber plans, while 29.9% can get its cable plans. You can compare this to other service provider stats.

AT&T has criticized this marketing approach. An AT&T representative stated that customers should not have to be telecom experts or squint at the fine print to know what they are buying. The representative added that when internet is marketed as fiber, customers deserve 100% fiber all the way to their home.

Legal and Regulatory History

Charter has faced criticism over its fiber claims before. In March, Spectrum agreed to modify its "fiber-powered" statements. This followed a challenge by AT&T brought through the BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division.

As part of that earlier settlement, Spectrum agreed to disclose clearly that its services are not delivered over a fiber-to-the-home infrastructure. The fine print on Spectrum's website now notes the connection to a premises is delivered via coaxial lines.

Charter did not respond to a request for comment from the source publication. The lawsuit was filed in Dallas. According to FCC data self-reported by the companies, which you can cross-reference on our standings page, Spectrum covers around 608,000 households in that city, while AT&T covers almost 495,000.