Definition: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: Major internet providers, including AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon, are slowing data from popular websites to thousands of US businesses and residential customers in dozens of cities across the country, according to a study released on Monday. 
  
  
  
 The study, conducted by internet activists BattlefortheNet, looked at the results from 300,000 internet users and found significant degradations on the networks of the five largest internet service providers (ISPs), representing 75% of all wireline households across the US. 
  
 The findings come weeks after the Federal Communications Commission introduced new rules meant to protect “net neutrality” – the principle that all data is equal online – and keep ISPs from holding traffic speeds for ransom. 
  
 Tim Karr of Free Press, one of the groups that makes up BattlefortheNet, said the finding show ISPs are not providing content to users at the speeds they’re paying for. 
  
 “For too long, internet access providers and their lobbyists have characterized net neutrality protections as a solution in search of a problem,” said Karr. “Data compiled using the Internet Health Test show us otherwise – that there is widespread and systemic abuse across the network. The irony is that this trove of evidence is becoming public just as many in Congress are trying to strip away the open internet protections that would prevent such bad behavior.” 
  
 The study, supported by the technologists at Open Technology Institute’s M-Lab, examines the comparative speeds of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), which shoulder some of the data load for popular websites. Any site that becomes popular enough has to pay a CDN to carry its content on a network of servers around the country (or the world) so that the material is close to the people who want to access it. 
  
 In Atlanta, for example, Comcast provided hourly median download speeds over a CDN called GTT of 21.4 megabits per second at 7pm throughout the month of May. AT&T provided speeds over the same network of ⅕ of a megabit per second. When a network sends more than twice the traffic it receives, that network is required by AT&T to pay for the privilege. When quizzed about slow speeds on GTT, AT&T told Ars Technica earlier this year that it wouldn’t upgrade capacity to a CDN that saw that much outgoing traffic until it saw some money from that network (as distinct from the money it sees from consumers). 
  
 AT&T has strongly opposed regulation of its agreements with the companies that directly provide connectivity between high-traffic internet users and their customers. Cogent, Level3 and others have petitioned the FCC to make free interconnection to CDNs a part of the conditions for the proposed merger between AT&T and DirecTV. 
  
 “It would be unprecedented and unjustified to force AT&T to provide free backbone services to other backbone carriers and edge providers, as Cogent et al seek,” said the company in a filing replying to the CDNs’ suggestion, part of a brief opposing the merger. “Nor is there any basis for requiring AT&T to augment network capacity for free and without any limits. Opponents’ proposals would shift the costs of their services onto all AT&T subscribers, many of whom do not use Opponents’ services, and would harm consumers.” 
  
 FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has taken an aggressive regulatory tack when it comes to mergers in the telecommunications sector. “History proves that absent competition a predominant position in the market such as yours creates economic incentives to use that market power to protect your traditional business in a way that is ultimately harmful to consumers,” he told industry leaders at the Internet and Television Expo last month. 
  
 The dispute over traffic speeds comes as the telecoms and cable industry readies legal challenges to the net neutrality rules. Most telecoms are content letting their lobbyists, notably trade associations Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) and USTelecom, sue the FCC over net neutrality rules, but AT&T has been one of the few companies to sue the FCC directly. ||||| WASHINGTON (CBS DC) — A new study claims massive Internet providers such as AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon are purposefully slowing data from popular websites to thousands of businesses and residential users across the country. 
  
 A study from Internet activists, BattlefortheNet, analyzed data from 300,000 Internet users and found the five largest Internet service providers (ISPs) have significantly degraded data speed, The Guardian reports. The purposeful internet service slow-down from the country’s largest internet provider companies affects 75 percent of all wireline households throughout the U.S. 
  
 The BattlefortheNet findings comes just weeks after the Federal Communications Commission introduced new rules meant to protect “net neutrality,” or the concept that all data on the Internet is equal. The rules are intended to keep ISPs such as AT&T, Time Warner, Verizon and Comcast from holding consumers’ traffic speeds for ransom. The country’s largest ISP companies urged the FCC to ignore consumer outcry and not view their networks as public utilities. 
  
 Last September, BattlefortheNet succeeded in overwhelming the federal government with millions of public comments demanding the FCC scrap its proposed rules for net neutrality and write new ones. Their day-long battle managed to send 1,000 calls per minute to members of Congress. 
  
 AT&T has continued to fight regulations of its services, calling them “unprecedented” and “unjustified” rules hurting their business. 
  
 Tim Karr of Free Press, one of many groups composing BattlefortheNet, said the study reflects that ISPs are continuing to refuse content to users at the speed for which they are paying. 
  
 “For too long, internet access providers and their lobbyists have characterized net neutrality protections as a solution in search of a problem,” Karr told The Guardian. “Data compiled using the Internet Health Test show us otherwise – that there is widespread and systemic abuse across the network. The irony is that this trove of evidence is becoming public just as many in Congress are trying to strip away the open internet protections that would prevent such bad behavior.” 
  
 One example provided by The Guardian from Atlanta shows Comcast “provided hourly median download speeds over a CDN called GTT of 21.4 megabits per second at 7pm throughout the month of May. AT&T provided speeds over the same network of ⅕ of a megabit per second.” 
  
 FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has been aggressive in his agreement that the large ISP companies must face regulation to protect consumers. 
  
 “History proves that absent competition a predominant position in the market such as yours creates economic incentives to use that market power to protect your traditional business in a way that is ultimately harmful to consumers,” he told industry leaders at the Internet and Television Expo last month. ||||| The Federal Communications Commission slapped AT&T with a $100 million fine Wednesday, accusing the country’s second-largest cellular carrier of drastically slowing down Internet speeds for customers who signed up for “unlimited” data plans. 
  
 The decision marks the FCC’s most aggressive step to date to regulate Internet providers as Chairman Tom Wheeler follows through with his pledge to ensure that consumers have uninterrupted access to the Web. Although the enforcement action targets AT&T’s cellular business, other broadband providers fear it is a preview of the greater scrutiny the industry will face under a more assertive FCC. 
  
 AT&T’s practice affected millions of customers who saw their Internet service slow to the equivalent of dial-up speeds for up to 12 days a month, the FCC said. Thousands of AT&T customers complained as they struggled to browse the Web or watch movies on their smartphones, according to the agency. 
  
 The fine is the largest ever levied by the FCC and faults AT&T for failing to adequately disclose that unlimited customers faced “throttling” of their Internet speeds if the company determined they were using too much data. 
  
 “Consumers deserve to get what they pay for,” Wheeler said in a statement. “Broadband providers must be upfront and transparent about the services they provide. The FCC will not stand idly by while consumers are deceived by misleading marketing materials and insufficient disclosure.” 
  
  
  
  
  
 AT&T said it would fight the fine. “We have been fully transparent with our customers, providing notice in multiple ways and going well beyond the FCC’s disclosure requirements,” the company said in a statement. 
  
 But the FCC said that AT&T’s disclosures did not go far enough and that the company should correct its misleading statements. 
  
 If AT&T is unsuccessful in challenging the fine, the money will go to the U.S. treasury, not to customers. AT&T should allow customers to drop their unlimited data plans without incurring a penalty, the FCC said. 
  
 AT&T stopped offering unlimited data plans to new customers in 2010, but those who already had such plans were allowed to keep them. The company declined to say how many customers have unlimited plans. 
  
 Unlimited contracts were once common among cellular providers but fell out of favor as consumer appetite grew for smartphones and mobile Internet. The amount of mobile data used last year jumped 26 percent, according to CTIA, the wireless industry’s top trade group. 
  
 The explosion of demand for data has made offering unlimited service too expensive, industry analysts have said. The only way to keep up, they say, is to “throttle,” or cap, Internet access for customers who use too much data playing games or watching videos. 
  
 Most cellular customers now have a limited amount of monthly data and are hit with extra fees when they exceed the cap. 
  
 Before implementing its “throttling” policy in 2011, AT&T allegedly tested the idea with several focus groups. The more participants learned about the program, however, the less they liked it, according to the FCC. Consumers told the company that the policy was inconsistent with its promise of truly “unlimited” data. Yet AT&T went ahead with the policy. 
  
 This isn’t the first time AT&T’s unlimited-data policy has landed the company in hot water. The Federal Trade Commission sued the telecom company in October, alleging that 3.5 million users had their Internet service slowed to dial-up speeds. The case is pending, and AT&T has said it would fight the charges. 
  
 The FCC fine comes at an awkward time for AT&T as it tries to persuade the FCC to approve its $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV. The deal, which has been under scrutiny for more than a year, is considered essential to AT&T’s growth plans, including giving it access to valuable TV programming. 
  
 Consumer advocates said that while Wednesday’s decision is unlikely to jeopardize the deal, it reverses a long-standing perception that the FCC had gotten too cozy with industry. 
  
 “Big fines say, ‘Those days are over, and we expect you to behave,’ ” said Harold Feld, senior vice president of the advocacy group Public Knowledge. “As broadband is recognized increasingly as the critical service for people . . . we’re seeing the consumer-protection agencies within the government taking it a lot more seriously.” 
  
 The FCC fined AT&T under a transparency rule that was enacted in 2010 as part of its “net neutrality” authority — a set of powers aimed at preventing Internet providers from interfering with how content is delivered to consumers. A federal court struck down those regulations last year, except for the transparency provision, which requires broadband companies to explain their practices clearly to consumers. This year, the FCC passed a new version of net neutrality that is designed to police Internet providers even more closely. 
  
 The FCC’s aggressive oversight of AT&T will probably spread to other companies, industry officials fear. T-Mobile, for example, also slows Internet speeds for some of its unlimited customers in certain cases. The company, the country’s fourth-largest cellular provider, declined to comment. Meanwhile, the agency is expected to consider a complaint against Time Warner Cable alleging that the nation’s second-largest cable provider is unfairly charging content providers to access its subscribers. 
  
 Industry groups and officials declined to comment publicly on the AT&T fine but said privately that they were worried. 
  
 “This signals a very strong intention of the FCC and its enforcement bureau to make examples of [Internet providers] where they think there’s a problem,” said a cable industry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to comment freely. “It’s a signal to say, ‘Watch out, because we’re coming.’ ” 
  
 Ensuring that consumers have adequate access to the Internet has become a cornerstone of Wheeler’s tenure. In February, the FCC knocked down state limits on city-run Internet services in Tennessee and North Carolina, putting more pressure on large Internet providers. The agency has also increased funding for schools and libraries that need help buying high-speed Internet. 
  
 On Thursday, the FCC is expected to expand Lifeline, a Reagan-era program that once subsidized only basic telephone service but under Wheeler could also cover the cost of stand-alone high-speed Internet subscriptions for the first time. 
  
 andrea.peterson@washpost.com |||||
Output:
Thanks to new FCC rules put out this year to ensure net neutrality and keep all online data equal, major Internet service providers (think Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner) aren't supposed to hold our Internet speeds hostage. But that's exactly what's happening, per a study by an Internet activist group, causing a hefty slowdown to 75% of wireline businesses and residences, the Guardian reports. Battle for the Net's study, which checked out results from 300,000 Internet users, found what the paper calls "significant degradations" on the networks of the five largest ISPs, which means we're paying for traffic speed we're just not getting. "There is widespread and systemic abuse across the network," says a rep from one of the groups that comprises Battle for the Net. The ISPs are already being forced to react to these net neutrality rules: AT&T was hit with a $100 million fine last week for slowing down Internet speeds of customers with supposedly unlimited data plans, per the Washington Post, while Sprint cut out its "data-throttling" procedure of slowing down speeds of customers also believed to be using an excessive amount of data, CNET notes. But the ISPs don't think they should be regulated as public utilities are, which is effectively what the FCC decided back in February, and AT&T in particular is fighting back against the "unprecedented" and "unjustified" rules it says is damaging its business, CBS Washington reports. ("Radical" changes are needed to fix our antiquated Internet, a Gizmodo writer says.)