Verizon Begins Charging a Fee Just to Use an Older Router (dslreports.com)

Karl Bode, reporting for DSLReports: Several users have written in to note that Verizon has informed them the company will begin charging FiOS customers with an older router a new "Router Maintenance Charge." An e-mail being sent to many Verizon FiOS customers says that the fee of $2.80 will soon be charged every month -- unless users pay Verizon to get a more recent iteration of its FiOS gateway and router. Since Verizon FiOS often uses a MOCA coax connection and the gateway is needed for Verizon TV, many FiOS users don't have the ability to swap out gear as easily as with other ISPs. "Our records indicate that you have an older model router that is being discontinued," states the e-mail. "If you do plan to keep using your current router, we will begin billing, on 9.29.16, a monthly Router Maintenance Charge of $2.80 (plus taxes), to ensure we deliver the best support."

Comments

Really, this happens in America? How??

[Anonymous Coward]

UK person here - Seriously, if this happened in the UK there'd be a gigantic 'fuck off' from the customers and probably god knows what in complaints and legal stuff against the company involved.

You guys need to open up that market and vote with your feet! If companies think they're able to put that kind of crap in the T&C's and get away with it then it means you lot are:

a) too comfortable
b) fucked
c) being subjected to some backhanded deal
d) probably profit somewhere.

Re:Really, this happens in America? How??

[__aaclcg7560]

Nickel-and-diming your customers to death is an American tradition.

Re:Really, this happens in America? How??

[Archangel Michael]

Wrong Word.

The correct words are "Franchise Agreements". And those are granted by your local municipality. Stop blaming businesses for corrupting your local mayors and council critters.

The problem is easily solvable, because it is a problem of the "last mile" and a simple bond measure would solve it. Issue bonds to build out Conduit pathways to all city dwellings and commercial buildings. Pull fiber to each house, back to a single (or more) COLO facility. Offer any/all providers a spot in said COLO facility to offer whatever they want, to any/all of the people hanging on the other end of all that fiber.

1) Competition will create lower prices
2) Competition will create additional options (a la carte??)
3) Competition isn't for last mile, it is for service.

IF you are pissed at your options, make this proposal to your City council next time the Franchise Agreements come up for renewal. MAKE them work for you, they are your Public Servants (or should be)

Re: Really, this happens in America? How??

[Miamicanes]

That's what happened to me. When I bought my house ~10 years ago, I made a point of adding a contingency for DSL availability (because I didn't want to get stuck with Comcast).

It turns out, both of my immediate neighbors to my left and right had DSL, but AT&T wouldn't let ME sign up because their DSLAM was maxed out, and they weren't going to expand it. For a year and a half, literally the only way to get DSL was to call them and be lucky enough to grab the slot recently opened up by someone (they didn't have a waiting list, either).

The two years I was forced to endure Comcast were MISERABLE. Their service went down AT LEAST 2 or 3 times per week. I was working from home, so when it happened... I noticed immediately. Basically, their installers would disconnect trunk cables when doing new installations & take everyone downstream from that node offline, because at that point they still had the mentality of "TV provider" instead of "five-nines network service provider".

The worst part about it is, if I called Comcast to report the outage (and implicitly, to bitch at them for going down yet again), they INSISTED upon wasting my time making me reboot my computer and other troubleshooting steps, even though they could have known within a matter of seconds whether my cable modem was even reachable. They basically treated service outages like a state secret, and bent over backwards to not admit there was one in my neighborhood, even when they knew DAMN WELL that the problem was somewhere upstream from my cable modem. And Comcast STILL doesn't seem to understand why I passionately hate them so much, and refuse to talk to their salespeople.

Re:Really, this happens in America? How??

[AthanasiusKircher]

It is not called Franchise but concession.
Mac Donalds etc. are Franchises.

Wrong -- by federal law, cable providers often operate as local franchises. That's the term the government uses:

A variety of laws and regulations for cable television exist at the state and local level. Some states, such as Massachusetts, regulate cable television on a comprehensive basis through a state commission or advisory board established for the sole purpose of cable television regulation. In Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont, the agencies are state public utility commissions. In Hawaii, regulation of cable television is the responsibility of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. In other areas of the country, cable is regulated by local governments such as a city cable commission, city council, town council, or a board of supervisors. These regulatory entities are called "local franchising authorities." ...

The Communications Act requires that no new cable operator may provide service without a franchise and establishes several policies relating to franchising requirements and franchise fees. The Communications Act authorizes local franchising authorities to grant one or more franchises within their jurisdiction.

Etc.

By the way, you may want to look up the original definition of "franchise," which had to do with governments granting the right to do business in a particular area or for a particular set of goods, services, etc. The word was later extended in meaning to refer to large corporations granting rights to individual owners to sell their company's products, etc. as in your McDonalds example.

Re:Which is worse, Verizon or Comcast?

[Crashmarik]

Comcast is really bad. But when you live in area that actually has competition they get better.

Ex. In my area ATT began a fiber rollout and Comcast suddenly discovered customer service and competitive pricing.