Help submitting an anti trust complaint (data caps)

Community Tech Policy & News
1

My ISP, Shentel, implemented data caps a few months ago and this past month it added $80 to my bill. I think that I may be in a position that could stop this. Shentel also sells a TV service and I believe that I, and several of my friends, can submit Anti Trust complaints to the DoJ on the terms that they are interfering with another businesses potential customers by using data caps. I was wanting to switch to Sling TV, but with data caps in place there is no way I can have that and not go over my data cap. Here is the form and what I have so far. I really need your guys' opinion on what I should say in this.

Name of Companies involved? Shentel, www.shentel.com
How do you believe they have violated the federal antitrust laws? I believe that Shentel has violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by adopting a data cap policy on their Internet plans which restricts the amount of data users can use per month without facing a punishment of $10 per 50GB over. This data cap only applies to Internet data which means that Shentel’s own Television service is unaffected, however any other companies’ Internet based television services will be restricted by this.
Can you give examples of the conduct you believe violates the antitrust laws? My family was considering to switch to Internet based TV, but if the data caps remain in place then we have to stay with our current TV provider unless we would pay for the penalty of going over the data cap.
What is the product or service affected by this conduct? Where is the product manufactured or sold, or where is the service provided? The service affected is Sling TV, an Internet based TV service, which we were considering switching to.
Who are the major competitors that sell the product or provide the service? The only other competitor in my area, Frontier, offers an extremely poor service and can not be compared to the quality Shentel offers in terms of data bandwidth you pay for and for what you actually get.
What is your role in the situation in question? I am a consumer and have no ties to either company other than being a customer for Shentel and previously Frontier.
Who is harmed by the alleged violations? How are they harmed? Everyone who has Shentel Internet service is affected because the data cap applies to all Shentel residential customers and any Internet based TV services that offer their service in areas where potential customers use Shentel Internet.

2

They need to have the same content like the exact same shows available on their service as the one you use as an alternative. Not sure if that is known or not.

3

good luck but there's nothing DOJ can actually do for you. Best thing you can do is resign from your current internet service. You could or actually should create petition for shentel customers to rise cap or completely abolish it. Its not illegal.

4

No not illegal in and of itself but there is a precedent set where an ISP was charging overage on a guy for using something like netflix, when their own service was offering some of the same shows on their own service which had no overage fees. He challenged it on the basis that data is data and should be charged for equally and won.

This is a similar situation.

5

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to go more at the angle of anti competitive behavior since their TV service is not affected by the caps, but their competitors like Sling TV are and that is keeping potential customers away.

6

Hmmm, true. Thanks for your reply. I'm going to try more of an anti-competition behavior stance since their TV service is not affected by the caps, but their competitors like Sling TV are and that is keeping potential customers away.