- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
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Let me get this right… they’re lobbying their way out to not even list what they’re charging for?
I hope FCC doubles down without lube.
If it’s not too hard to charge, it’s not too hard to list.
Not to defend ISPs too much, but I will say that it will be more difficult to quote prices than many expect.
I used to work for CenturyLink in customer support. I’d have callers from 20 different states, and thousands of municipalities. Each and every one of those municipalities had different rates depending on the services. One town would have a franchise utility agreement that has the City tacking on 2% in trade for granting right of ways. Another would have a $11 monthly 911 service fee applied to everything (911 still has to work on DSL so even internet-onlu customers had to pay it), where another might have a 50 cent fee. Everywhere was different, and any number of these fees was subject to change.
Something like a franchise agreement might not move with a fiscal year, or the city ordinance may have had a flat fee that was divided amongst the number of customers. We’d have a fixed rate for a service, but due to the constantly-changing fees the customer may have a different bill every month of the year.
Giving a precise quote in those circumstances was pretty much impossible. Our computer systems weren’t logged into some kind of live fee database of every state, county, and municipal government in the country.
In my job right now I establish fees for municipal government. There’s been some fuckery at the state level so that even I - the person in charge of setting the fees - can’t tell you what a permit will cost in 2 weeks. And my new fees that I have to pull out of my ass will directly affect the franchise fee rates for telecom providers, which is one of those variable fees we all hate.
The truth is Spectrum and Frontier legitimately won’t know what to charge the customers in my town until they’re sending the bill.
Those sound like internal complications of doing business. A well designed software system could solve a lot of those issues. That’s not the consumers problem. Especially when prices are high. If they want to charge fees instead of flat rates they need to say what they are.
That’s like a store that won’t tell you the price of anything until you buy it. Or a hospital lol for some reason we let that one slip
I REALLY hate it when websites won’t tell you the true price until you go through the whole checkout process
When you go to the store, the cashier doesn’t say “come back in 3 months for the same price.”
It may be more difficult than a relatively static price, but if they can figure out how to charge it, they can figure out how to display it. Any ISP sites I’ve used have you put in zip code anyway to view services. There’s no reason they can’t set it up to show the exact fee rates per area. I know you said you’re not defending them, but “it’s hard” isn’t really an excuse.
Why would anyone care what the ISPs think about how much work they have to do? We’re paying for it, so in what world is it not misleading to withhold information about charges?
It sounds like providers are trying to hide monthly fees in an attempt to obscure them. My ISP will let me ‘rent’ a modem for $10 a month, but I just decided to buy my own for $60 fifteen years ago. My brain says that’s $1800 (it could be wrong, it’s late). If I didn’t know I was paying a $10 monthly fee, I’d never have bought my own.
And if a fee is actually a tax, just put that on the bill. It’s pretty simple.
My isp used to charge $10/mo for a modem rental, so I just bought my own. Now they don’t charge for the rental but all their prices went up by at least $10/mo.
Comcast tells me I can use my own modem but if I do then I’m capped at 1.2TB a month on my “unlimited” plan.
I have the same cap. Data cap for home internet is a load of bullshit that should be prohibited entirely.
You were only paying $10/mo. for your modem?? They were charging me $15/mo. for just the television remote! Fuck these companies, seriously (especially Comcast).
The requirement that ISPs list all their monthly fees “would add unnecessary complexity and burdens to the label for consumers and providers and could result in some providers having to create many labels for any given plan,” the groups said in the filing on Friday.
It would put undo burden on you for them to tell you what they’re charging for. they’re trying to help you. this isn’t about capitalism, it’s about simplifying the process of them adding fees to your bill in a mutually beneficial way, because neither of you have to think too hard about where the fee money goes. it’s about mutual love, respect, and empathy 🙏
$10/mo = $120/yr.
15yr @ $120/yr = $1800
If you want to make and add all these fees, I think it is only fair that your are required to list them all.
Stop hiding behind your pussy corporate bullshit, and take some responsibility for your money grabbing thoughtlessness.
Customers want to be able to determine who is of best value, and if you advertise $5 a month but add $45 of “fees” then you are just a cunt, and you don’t deserve the business; even if your SUM TOTAL of $50 a month is less than some other ISP that just says its $54 a month and that’s it.
If you are sneaking about and skirting shit like this, we can only assume you are like that at a corporate level, and everything you are doing is dodgy as fuck.
deleted by creator
almost like they’re asking to be nationalized…
Can’t the FCC just tell them they’ll be fined if they don’t comply? Don’t tell them how much they’ll be fined. Let them make their decision, then tell them how much it will cost.
My ISP regularly tacks on extra charges for $1-$5. I suspect they do this to millions of people assuming nobody will call in to complain about five bucks. But at that scale they rake in tens of millions for no extra service. Massive theft.
Let me do it for you:
- O&M - $3
- R&D - $1
- Tech Support - $0.25
- CEO’s cocaine addiction - $25
- Selling your personal information & browsing history - ($10)
- Profits for Executive Bonuses - $50
- Stock Buybacks to Inflate Value - $25
My formerly-favorite local pizza place got bought by a chain who put up 10+ TVs that show nothing but ads for the chain and occasionally portions of their menu (which is of course useless as a menu since it’s not visible most of the time). They also replaced the original simple but easy-to-use website with a gaudy infinite-scrolling pile of shit that makes you click through a bunch of “suggestions” just to order and pay for one fucking pizza.
Their pizza is still really good (for now, anyway) but they’ve now added a $2 “technology fee” to every order. Fuck corporate America so fucking hard.
oh waaaaaaah cry about it >_>
ISPs: “fine we will!” Q_Q
If it’s too hard to disclose those costs up front, then how in TF are they able to figure it out down to the last cent on the first and subsequent bills?
Demonstrating that they have the ability to do it is not a very good argument for claiming it’s too hard.
I changed to T-Mobile internet for $30 with my phone plan. I couldn’t be any happier with my choice. Before I had xfinity for $30 and I had 75 down, 25 up, and 1tb data cap. With T-Mobile I get 300 down, 90 up, and no data cap for the same price. It’s perfectly good internet
Oh whah, it’s too haaard! Mom, Dad’s making me do chores! It’s not fair! I don’t want to do chores! Don’t make me come visit him any more!
Dad: I just want him to rinse his plate.
Call a Waaaahbulance
