Stop the Cap! will shortly launch a new Terms of Service Tracker for the nation’s largest Internet Service Providers.  Born from an idea from the Electronic Freedom Foundation, our new tracker will check several provider websites every day looking for any changes to the content of Subscriber Agreements, Terms & Conditions, and any other legal notices that could impact your broadband Internet service.

Many Internet Service Providers don’t time stamp changes — they simply quietly replace one agreement with another, and too often fail to notify customers about what changed.

Most customer agreements have language that permits them to change their terms on a whim, even if they fundamentally change service descriptions, pricing, and try to sneak in usage caps, tiered pricing, bandwidth throttling, and other anti-consumer provisions.  Worse yet, customers under “price protection” or “term contracts” are often only given 30 days to “opt out” before the new terms automatically apply to their accounts.  Customers learning of changes too late to opt out are often stuck paying hundreds of dollars in early termination fees to escape a company that is no longer acceptable to them.

When a company changes any provision in a Subscriber Agreement, all existing customers should be notified by e-mail and on their bills about any changes, and given ample time to react without penalties or traps.  Until the nation’s ISPs begin to consistently provide that notice, we shall.

We’ll have more details shortly, and anticipate allowing our readers to subscribe to automatic updates, informing them about any changes that could impact their service and their wallets.