If there's one problem with the broadband industry that regulators simply refuse to even acknowledge, it's the use of misleading below the line fees to jack up the advertised cost of service. Inspired by the banking industry, countless ISPs now happily make up a wide variety of nonsensical fees they bury below the line for this purpose, ranging from the growing use of "broadcast TV fees" (used to bury a portion of programming costs below the line), to CenturyLink's implementation of the completely made up "Internet Cost Recovery Fee."
The end result is broadband consumers who think they're getting service at a particular rate, only to be shocked when the bill finally comes due.
The latest such example comes from New England ISP Fairpoint, whose customers say is now charging users a new $3 "Broadband Cost Recovery Fee."'
What does the fee actually do? According to a notice being sent to consumers, the fee is necessary "to defray costs associated with expanding network capacity to support the continued increase in customers' broadband consumption." Of course you'd be quite correct in thinking that's what your existing bill is for, and this is simply another attempt to advertise an artificially-lower rate, then sock users with higher prices post sale.
The closest regulators have gotten to addressing this aggressively misleading practice has been the push for voluntary broadband "nutrition labels," announced last April. The FCC argued that such labels should clearly detail speed, price, usage caps, fees, and other restrictions on the line if ISPs want to adhere to the FCC's net neutrality transparency guidelines.
"The FCC receives more than 2,000 complaints annually about surprise fees associated with consumers’ Internet service bills," the agency said at the time. "The actual prices paid for broadband-related services can be as much as 40 percent greater than what is advertised after taxes and fees are added to a bill, according to consumer complaints to the Commission."