Same situation here, we've had Brighthouse for years and now they created a new modem charge, but there is no new modem or anything added to the service they provide. Upon calling them the response is simply "Yes, it is a new charge". I am sick and tired of them raising their prices every 3 months. It is a freaking monopoly in central florida and we are pretty much stuck to just accept it or have no internet access. I already cancelled their cable service because the frequent price increases and new fees just pissed me off. But internet there is no option.

Just found out today Brighthouse is double billing my account. I currently have phone service and RR 40. Brighthouse added a charge to my phone called a modem charge. I currently pay a modem charge for RR 40, now BH wants to charge for the same modem for my phone. They are DOUBLE BILLING CUSTOMERS for the same HARDWARE! Coin the phase, NICKLE AND DIME THE CUSTOMERS!!!!!

"We are by no means a monopoly in CFL"
Not True, BH does have a government sanctioned monopoly for the wire "cable" in my area (Melbourne, FL) no other provider can offer services over the cable.

"In each there are at least two other providers available."
True but, the other two providers are:
AT&T "slower, expensive internet with a marry me contract"
Dish "slower expensive internet with a marry me contract"

In the town next to me they getting "cable" from embark for a lot less money because there are several "cable companies" competing for the consumer, i.e. no monopoly means fair competition and consumer choice.

"We also do not raise our rates every three months"
False, I'm on the phone at least every three months negotiating something, be it "new mysterious charges" or "plan changes" or "new equipment charges", it's always something, if your not watching/fighting the bill, it will increase.

"I would be happy to review you billing and see if we can find a package that better suits your needs."
And there is the pitch in a nutshell folks... when you call and complain about price/service/bill/etc.. they always offer you a different plan that sounds like your getting something more "for the same price you are paying" i.e. no savings just a new pitch.

I checked Cable TV prices and Internet speed/prices across the US and was surprised to find that we in Central Florida under the Bright House government monopoly are paying much more than the national average.... that is the problem with a monopoly, no competition = no win for the customer.

Read this for further proof of concept:
»www.reddit.com/r/technology/comm···rfectly/

Google Fiber will level the playing field for the consumer and Bright House is very afraid... the way over-priced services they provide days are numbered, Bright House is hiring every lawyer and greasing every politician they can to keep you trapped in their ridiculous pricing/service model.

Follow the link below for a very good read on the future of Bright House and how your internet choices will be limited by them no matter how much it cost them to keep you trapped.

»www.reddit.com/r/technology/comm···rfectly/

Remember way back in the beginning of the "cable revolution" when everybody was shocked that somebody would actually pay for TV when it was free? but.... it was worth it because there were very little or no commercials? Now I pay $80.00 per/month for "basic cable" which has 250+ channels of mostly garbage that is infested with commercials.

Part of my job is statistics, so I ran a month long data gathering period of logging the number and length of commercials with all the channels I watch and the end result was over 52% commercial time over actual show time. (yeah I use a DVR but that's not the point).
So BH charges us over-inflated prices and then makes another fortune on ad revenue (it's a business, I get it, but this is pure greed)

Then it gets even worse, I cross-tabbed the commercial run times between channels and found that channels/shows that are similar run commercials at the same time, so if you change the channel and your tastes are the same you will most likely find another commercial.

There is a running joke in my house, we turn the TV on and try to hold our breath while flipping through channels and cannot breath until we find a channel that is not running a commercial... most of the time we run out of breath, yeah it's that bad/common.

And we all know that the high price is also due to the fact that we have to pay for hundreds of other channels we will never watch, we cannot just order the channels we watch on a regular basis, a-la-cart, which would make it affordable and fair, but no.... cable companies lobbied that option into law. There was a cable provider in New York that started a company on that model, "just pay for the channels you watch instead of ALL the channels" guess what..? Bright House and Comcast sued him into poverty and made it a crime (with jail time) if anybody tries to use that business model again.

Your days are numbered cable giants just like the old tel-co's but I'm sure you will continue to stick it to us as long as you can.