Earlier this year, West Virginians described unreliable internet that dropped during work calls, slowed online school lessons and forced some residents to drive miles just to upload files.
Months later, those problems remain.
During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers introduced a handful of bills that would have increased customer protection and regulated internet providers.
None that addressed slow or unreliable internet were ever put on a committee agenda.
Currently, about 80% of West Virginia households are served by minimum broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second for downloads and 20 megabits per second for upload, according to federal mapping data.
State officials say hundreds of millions of federal dollars will eventually bring high-speed internet to tens of thousands of homes and businesses, but construction has yet to begin.
House lawmakers pass a consumer protection bill
The House of Delegates passed a bill that would create new consumer protections for internet customers and require internet service providers to be more transparent about billing practices and service terms.
It would require providers to credit customers’ bills for internet outages lasting more than 12 consecutive hours.
The credit would be calculated based on a customer’s monthly service rate, prorated for the duration of the outage and automatically applied to the next bill.
The Attorney General would have the authority to bring a civil case against companies that fail to notify customers of outages and give the appropriate credit.
Del. Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire, the bill’s sponsor, said he introduced the bill because residents in his district were having numerous internet outages lasting days.
“Consumers in West Virginia are often billed for these services during outages caused by a provider, resulting in payments for services not received,” he said. “The lack of reasonable limitations on billing practices potentially leads to unfair charges and insufficient accountability.”
Complaints from customers about internet service and billing are a long-term, ongoing issue in West Virginia. Last year, the state reached a $119 million settlement with Altice USA, the parent company of Optimum and the former Suddenlink.
The settlement followed a multi-year investigation into the company’s operations and service quality. State officials in the Attorney General’s office said they reviewed more than 2,300 complaints from customers between 2020 and 2023.
Roger Calhoun, state president for AARP, said the bill to hold providers accountable when the internet fails was important, especially for seniors and older West Virginians.
“We’re in a remarkable period where high-speed internet is coming across the whole state,” he said. “Right now is a good time to figure out what we want the interaction to be between the internet providers and the citizens.”
Mark Polen, director of the West Virginia Cable and Telecommunications Association, represents several internet providers.
He said he was concerned that the outage provisions would apply too broadly to matters outside providers’ control.
The bill was referred to the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining committee.
Sen. Chris Rose, R- Monongalia, did not say whether or not he would put the bill on the committee’s agenda before the end of the session.
Lawmakers didn’t consider regulating internet service
Another bill would have granted state regulators at the Public Service Commission the authority to regulate internet service providers, including the authority to investigate consumer complaints.
The proposal would have allowed regulators to issue fines of up to $7,000 against internet providers found to have violated customer service quality standards.
Though the bill passed the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure committee last year, Chairman Sen. Mark Maynard, R-Wayne, didn’t put it on his agenda this year.
Internet service is currently not regulated in West Virginia, leaving consumers with very few options when problems arise.
“The internet today is a lot like the telephone lines of yesterday — nobody wants to go somewhere that doesn’t have reliable service,” said Sen. Craig Hart, R-Mingo, the bill’s sponsor.
“I’m normally not in favor of expanding government authority, but this is something I think is very needed and reasonable.”