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ISP Disclosures About Data Caps and Fees Eliminated By Net Neutrality Repeal (arstechnica.com)
In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission forced ISPs to be more transparent with customers about hidden fees and the consequences of exceeding data caps. Since the requirements were part of the net neutrality rules, they will be eliminated when the FCC votes to repeal the rules next week. Ars Technica reports: While FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing to keep some of the commission's existing disclosure rules and to impose some new disclosure requirements, ISPs won't have to tell consumers exactly what everything will cost when they sign up for service. There have been two major versions of the FCC's transparency requirements: one created in 2010 with the first net neutrality rules, and an expanded version created in 2015. Both sets of transparency rules survived court challenges from the broadband industry. The 2010 requirement had ISPs disclose pricing, including "monthly prices, usage-based fees, and fees for early termination or additional network services." That somewhat vague requirement will survive Pai's net neutrality repeal. But Pai is proposing to eliminate the enhanced disclosure requirements that have been in place since 2015. Here are the disclosures that ISPs currently have to make -- but won't have to after the repeal:
-Price: the full monthly service charge. Any promotional rates should be clearly noted as such, specify the duration of the promotional period and the full monthly service charge the consumer will incur after the expiration of the promotional period.
-Other Fees: all additional one time and/or recurring fees and/or surcharges the consumer may incur either to initiate, maintain, or discontinue service, including the name, definition, and cost of each additional fee. These may include modem rental fees, installation fees, service charges, and early termination fees, among others.
-Data Caps and Allowances: any data caps or allowances that are a part of the plan the consumer is purchasing, as well as the consequences of exceeding the cap or allowance (e.g., additional charges, loss of service for the remainder of the billing cycle).
Pai's proposed net neutrality repeal says those requirements and others adopted in 2015 are too onerous for ISPs.
-Price: the full monthly service charge. Any promotional rates should be clearly noted as such, specify the duration of the promotional period and the full monthly service charge the consumer will incur after the expiration of the promotional period.
-Other Fees: all additional one time and/or recurring fees and/or surcharges the consumer may incur either to initiate, maintain, or discontinue service, including the name, definition, and cost of each additional fee. These may include modem rental fees, installation fees, service charges, and early termination fees, among others.
-Data Caps and Allowances: any data caps or allowances that are a part of the plan the consumer is purchasing, as well as the consequences of exceeding the cap or allowance (e.g., additional charges, loss of service for the remainder of the billing cycle).
Pai's proposed net neutrality repeal says those requirements and others adopted in 2015 are too onerous for ISPs.
It goes along nicely with their claim that cutting taxed on rich people and big corporations will result in more income and jobs for middle-class/poor even though many CEOs have come out and said they won't be using the tax cuts to open new jobs. The GOP has taken a flying leap away from reality.
(This isn't to say that the Democrats are perfect. Right now, they are the saner party - which isn't saying much. I'd love for the GOP to be a good alternative to the Democrats, but they seem determined to take the party into more pro-big-business and anti-science areas.)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Plus, they barely compete on prices. Most of them try to gain customers with speeds and promotional pricing that doesn't reflect reality, when speeds are variable for a great many reasons and promotional pricing ends after 6-12 months, leaving customers with bait and switch policies as the norm.
Centurylink did something similar to this to me when I was on their gigabit fiber service:
Advertised price is $79.99
Modem rental fee $15 (there is no modem, just an ethernet drop into my apartment)
Internet Cost Recovery Fee $15 (uhhh....?)
Taxes and government fees $20 (Complete bullshit because the government legally cannot charge any taxes here; the other ISP, Cox, doesn't charge you any taxes unless you get cable TV, this is literally just a number they pulled out of their ass.)
Whats worse is if I didn't complain to the FCC at the time, it would have been much higher because for my apartment, they were charging $50 higher than the advertised price. Anyways, after I got my first bill I just canceled it and went back to the base 40/10 package, which was free with my rent. I complained about how they didn't even provide gig service for the first half of the month either (it took them a while to adjust it) and they just ended up not charging anything.
I think that fat fuck Ajit Pai just misses the good ol' telecom monopoly days. Fuck him.
Check out pages 81-85.
I've been advocated, for years, that the NN issue be pulled from the FCC and dropped in the lap of FTC and DOJ. (I even got a copy of my several-years-old paper on the subject into the hands of an FTC functionary, just after the election last year.)
But I was under the impression that the FTC needed a new congressional authorization to exercise such power.
According to THIS:
- The reason they're currently blocked is that the FCC classed the Internet as a common carrier - and THIS (not the Federal Hands Off the Internet legislation) is what's been holding them off.
- By revoking their claim of jurisdiction (upon which courts have frowned), the FTC is unmuzzled immediately.
I don't see a reference to my paper among the thousands of footnotes. (Fine with me - it was for a composition class, not really for Coming to the Attention of People in High Places (to finish the "live in interesting times" curse). But I could care less if it wasn't what got them going in the right direction (or I didn't get credit if I did have some influence).)
Now to see if this claim on the FCC's part is correct and it works like I hope - and they claim it will. Meanwhile ...
Merry Christmas to me - and to us all.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I highly doubt that ISP's that are going to go along with this are going to care that it breaks the internet for almost everybody that doesn't just use whatever the most popular internet flavors happen to be be.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
In Stockholm, Sweden, most apartments have somewhere 10-20 ISPs to choose from, with several different fiber nets available or within reach. Companies are not allowed to lock out the competition.
The standard price for an up/down line of 100Mbit/100Mbit is (with VAT) around $18 per month ($15 without VAT) , no installation fee. That's with no caps or overages.
While I don't know if the Swedish market can be directly translated into the American market, it does seem that opening up and lowering the barriers to entry would help with prices. That means regulating the crap out of the big corporations.
Here's an idea: when the Democrats inevitably win
If. A very big if. Roy Moore is a really big deal. If republicans can stomach a pedophile in their midst, they've obviously tossed the moral compass out the window. This could be a problem. It shows how desperate republicans and their supporters are. Dunno if you watch the news, but actual voters are saying to news folks, they literally would rather have Roy Moore despite his shortcomings over -any- democrat. This casting aside of morals is pretty alarming, and they're taking very effective tactics from Trump's campaign: Wage war against the media. Make it "US vs. THEM!" It's extremely unhealthy for our republic. And unfortunately, it's plucking just the right strings for the right. They could very well use these plays effectively in 2018 to crush the democrats again. We'll see, but after 2016, nothing is inevitable anymore. Nothing is for sure, not even outrage of this level.
Roy Moore is a very important character to watch. If he picks up the seat in Alabama, we're in for a bumpy 2018. And nothing will be for sure until the fat lady sings at the end of the elections in Nov 2018. If Roy loses to Doug, it's a good sign that the left is organized and getting out the vote. They'll need to keep that organization and zest alive for a whole year. Meanwhile, Trump is making all of us very very tired.
It's cute that you think there is a meaningful difference between US and THEM. Blindly supporting a party's candidates like you are suggesting is 99.9% of the reason we are so fucked right now.