[Ecommerce] What Australia gov wants to require ISPs to disclose to customers

[James Love]

http://www.aca.gov.au/consumer/tsi/guidelines.rtf


       DRAFT GUIDELINE FOR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS:
                 CONSUMER CHOICE INFORMATION

 A DRAFT GUIDELINE DEVELOPED BY A WORKING GROUP CONVENED BY
           THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY

                         April 2002

5.  CONSUMER INFORMATION THAT ISPS SHOULD MAKE PUBLIC

Internet service providers should provide information, both
on their web sites and in written form about the matters
listed in this section.  A draft pro forma, reflecting these
requirements, is at Attachment A.  A hypothetical ISP
response to this guideline is at Attachment B:

I.  Price

ISPs should provide information about the following basic
features of the service:

(a) Pricing plans.
     (i) The price of each service offered should be set out
     in a manner that makes clear all components of charging
     for the service (including up-front and recurrent
     prices), the relationship between the price and the
     quantity of service received (usually time online, the
     amount of data downloaded or the sum of data sent to
     the Internet (uploaded) and that downloaded).
     (ii) Any limits on upload and/or download of data
     associated with the service and the costs of exceeding
     these limits.
     (iii) Any limits on access applying to individual
     sessions, such as data or time limits.
     (iv) The period of any contract.
     (v) Any restrictions affecting the eligibility of
     customers to access a particular service.
     (vi) Where Internet service is bundled together with
     other products or services, this should be clearly
     stated and all elements of the bundled service should
     be listed.
(b) Location of the ISP's dial-in prefix for each Point of
Presence (PoPs) by state so that consumers may estimate call
costs between their home or business and the ISP.
(c) Any penalties applicable in the event that the customer
chooses to terminate the service before the end of the
contract period.
(d) Billing.
     (i) Billing frequency.
     (ii) Method of delivery of bills.
     (iii) Payment options.
     (iv) Level of detail provided on bill.
     (v) Whether particular components of the bill are
     calculated in advance or in arrears.
(e) A list of services (other than Internet access and
email) provided by the ISP (such as web-hosting, web design,
programming, domain name registration etc.).
(f) A statement about any arrangements made by the ISP to
make access easier for disabled users.

II.  Performance

Note:  The Working Group has not finalised the information
that is likely to be most helpful to customers as an
indication of  the performance levels that they are likely
to experience.  Listed below are items suggested by the ACA
and members of the Working Group.  The ACA seeks comment
about (a) which of these measures are able to be provided by
ISPs and (b) which measures are likely to be of most use to
Internet users and potential users.

The ACA also seeks comments about the level of geographic
information that is most appropriate.  For example, should
data be provided for each Point of Presence, each state or
territory or averaged across each ISP's entire operation?

ISPs should provide current and accurate information about:

(a) The technology used to deliver the service (eg. dial-up
via PSTN telephone line, dial-up via ISDN telephone line,
ADSL, cable modem, satellite, direct connection).).
(b) The ISP's ratio of customers to individual input
connections (for dial-up services).
(c) The ISP's ratio of delivery speed in the off-peak hour
to the delivery speed in the peak hour (for 'always on' ADSL
and cable modem services).
(d) The ISP's average bandwidth utilisation during the
busiest hour of the day.
(e) The number of hours that the ISP's modems have been
fully utilised over a period of 5 consecutive weekdays in
the preceding quarter.
(f) Which client operating systems are supported.
(g) The location of any information available from the ISP
which might assist customers to set up their own equipment
in a way which is likely to lead to the most efficient
performance.

The performance measures cited cannot provide a complete
picture of the likelihood of the customer experiencing ease,
speed and reliability of access to the Internet.  However,
for the measures of Internet capacity at (b), (c), (d) and
(e) above, relatively low measures for:
·    the ratio of customers to input connections (modems);
·    the ratio of off-peak delivery speed to peak-hour
  delivery speed;
·    peak-hour bandwidth utilisation; and
·    the period of time that modems are fully utilised;
would mean that the customer has a relatively greater chance
of successfully accessing the service, particularly during
the busiest times of the day.

For the purpose of the assessments at (b) and (d), a
customer should be defined as someone who has accessed the
service at least once during the previous two months.

III.  Help

ISPs should list:

(a) Contact points for customers to report service faults.
(b) Contact points for customer technical and other help.
(c) The times that customer technical help is available.
(d) Charging arrangements for technical help.
(e) Whether installation of the service is available at the
customer's home or office and the charging arrangements for
on-site visits.

IV.  Communication

ISPs should identify:

(a) Telephone and facsimile numbers for administrative and
billing enquiries.
(b) The period of notice to be given in the event that the
ISP suspends or terminates the customer's service.
(c) Any arrangements about the timing of reminder notices
when pre-paid contracts are about to expire.
(d) The period of notice to be given for informing customers
about any changes in prices, terms and conditions.
(e) The methods of informing customers about any changes in
prices, terms and conditions.
(f) Where the contract involves limits on data, the ISP
should state if and how warnings are sent to customers when
quantities of data are approaching contractual limits.
(g) Where any operating manuals, guidebooks or other
information supplied by the ISP may be found.
(h) Any internal service standards that exist for answering
and responding to customer enquiries.
(i) The period of notice to be given for informing customers
about planned outages.
(j) The methods used to inform customers about planned
outages.
(k) The methods used to inform customers about unplanned
outages.
(l) A reference to the location of any internal policies and
processes about complaint handling and dispute resolution.
(m) A reference to the location of any internal policies and
processes about privacy.

V.  Security of service

ISPs should provide information about whether they:

(a) Comply with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
guidelines about securing back-up copies of data held.
(b) Comply with Systems Administrators' Guild standards
about securing Internet services from hacking.
(c) Offer any additional security services (such as access
to anti-virus software).
(d) Have an acceptable use policy in relation to sending and
receiving unsolicited bulk email ('SPAM').

VI.  Other information

The ISP should identify:

(a) Its affiliations with industry organisations.
(b) Its compliance with any industry self-regulatory
arrangements.



--------------------
James Love, mailto:james.love@cptech.org, http://www.cptech.org
voice +1.202.387.8030, mobile +1.202.361.3040, fax +1.202.234.5176