FCC rolls out new complaint center

Federal regulators want to make it easier for people to file complaints and fix problems with a telephone, cable, Internet or radio company.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unveiled a new website on Monday that “should help consumers better hold companies accountable,” according to Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.), the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee. Nelson has previously pushed the FCC to create a new complaint database for consumers.

{mosads}The FCC has long been plagued with a frustrating website that is a common complaint of journalists, lobbyists and others trying to navigate its information. FCC officials hope that the new site will streamline consumers’ complaints and make it easier for them to figure out whether or not a communications provider is playing by the rules.

“This site will make it easier for people to file and track complaints about problems like annoying robocalls and fraudulent charges, and it will help the FCC spot emerging trends in the marketplace,” said Delara Derakhashani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, in a statement. “This is a one-stop shop for consumers, and it’s a real improvement over the old system where forms and information were spread out and hard to find.”

The FCC framed the new website as one component of a broader effort to reboot its public-facing services, in an effort to give people better service.

Danielle Kehl, a policy analyst at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, said that the new website should be just “the first step in a continuing effort to improve other outdated systems as well.”