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Fairpoint Begins Charging $3 'Broadband Cost Recovery Fee'

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."

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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."

Most recommended from 24 comments


desarollo
join:2011-10-01
Monroe, MI

5 recommendations

desarollo

Member

Adverse?

This may be an adverse modification of the terms of the contract, so I think anyone looking to escape out of their contract has found a way out.
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH

2 recommendations

whiteyonenh

Member

Huh... OK

So not only are they currently noncompetitive in much of their footprint on a price per Mb basis, and/or even their potential available speed, they are now going to be charging a fee to make them even more noncompetitive, good job. I can currently only get 3/768 via Fairpoint, but currently have 30/5 via Time Warner (now Charter). Grandmother in another town can only get 1.5/384 via Fairpoint, but has Comcast Blast. Keep digging that grave Fairpoint, and as much as I hate to say it, even Frontier would be better.

Anon52c1f
@comcast.net

2 recommendations

Anon52c1f

Anon

Fairpoint customers

implement $3 Broadband Rip-off Recovery Credit

film at 11