Frontier Communications has started charging departing users a $10 “Broadband Processing Fee" for users who disconnect their service starting November 1. The Fee is in addition to any early termination fees customers may face. The fee was first reported by Stop The Cap!", who notes it will apply to all DSL users, all "FAST" (formerly FiOS) users, as well as Frontier's co-branded satellite broadband service.

"The fee will not apply to customers who change their service plan," a Frontier Representative insists. "We work to meet our customers’ needs and are confident they will find Frontier’s service and its value better than our competitors’ offerings." In other words -- don't worry about our obnoxious new fee because our service is just so good you won't ever have to disconnect your service.

The company has been at the cutting edge of charging new and heavy-handed fees -- recently informing users that whether they own their own modem or rent one, they'll have to pay Frontier a $7 "modem support and warranty fee." Such fees are an easy way to jack up the below-the-line price while keeping the advertised price the same.

How does Frontier get away with a constant bevy of rate hikes on service that for most of the company's users struggles to surpass 3 Mbps? They focus on a lot of rural and smaller city markets where broadband competition is virtually nonexistent.