New Bill Would Stop Internet Service Providers From Screwing You With Hidden Fees [telecom]

Like the airline and hotel industries, the cable TV and broadband sector has a masterful knack for obnoxious, hidden fees. From fees for simply trying to pay your bill to broadband surcharges based entirely on fluff and nonsense, the industry has spent years advertising one rate, only to hit you with a significantly higher price once your bill actually comes due.

A new bill being proposed by Senator Ed Markey and Representative Anna Eshoo is attempting to put an end to the practice.

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***** Moderator's Note *****

No, Virginia, there is no capitol-hill Santa Claus. This bill is just that: a proposed law which has a much chance of getting by the cable lobby as universal health care has of passing the Health-Insurance lobby or meaningful immigration reform has of winning approval from agribusiness.

I like Ed Markey. I understand that he has to play a political game and pretend to be working on big-concept issues, but this is the same process that Barney Frank used to refer to as "Slopping the Hogs."

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
Monty Solomon
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[snip]

Although historically the traditional telephone bill was very straightforward, there was one item in a few areas that consumers resented--message units. In several large cities, suburban calls were billed on a bulk basis rather than itemized. This made it a lot simpler for Bell in that they didn't need AMA or ANI, they could just use a meter attached to each line with relatively simple pulsing. But customers would get a bill of message units with no listing of who they called or how long they talked. Heavy users got big bills and no way to control it. Message units depended on length of call and distance. It is still used in some places.

When New York Telephone added Suffolk County (Long Island) to the message unit system, there was a lot of opposition, but it stuck.

Reply to
HAncock4

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