Law Banning 'Rental' Fees For Customer-Owned Routers Takes Effect Sunday (arstechnica.com) 39
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Broadband and TV providers will finally be required to stop charging "rental" fees for equipment that customers own themselves, thanks to a new US law that takes effect on Sunday. The bogus fees were outlawed by the Television Viewer Protection Act (TVPA), which was approved by Congress and signed by President Trump in December 2019. The law was originally scheduled to take effect on June 20, but Congress gave the Federal Communications Commission leeway to delay enforcement by six months if the FCC "finds that good cause exists for such an additional extension." The FCC in April granted the six-month delay to ISPs, claiming that providers needed more time to comply because of the coronavirus pandemic. That decision delayed implementation of the new requirements until December 20, 2020.
The law's implementation will "put an end to the unconscionable business practice of charging consumers a rental fee for cable modem routers even if consumers do not use them!" consumer-advocacy group Public Knowledge said in a blog post. "This common-sense correction will permit consumers to continue to use their own equipment, and not be forced to pay for something they neither asked for nor needed." [...] The new law, passed as part of a budget bill, creates a "consumer right to accurate equipment charges" that prohibits TV and broadband providers from charging for "covered equipment provided by the consumer." Covered equipment is defined as "equipment (such as a router) employed on the premises of a person... to provide [TV service] or to provide fixed broadband Internet access service." The companies may not charge rental or lease fees in cases when "the provider has not provided the equipment to the consumer; or the consumer has returned the equipment to the provider."
The law also includes a right to transparency that requires TV providers to inform customers of the total monthly charges, including all company-imposed fees and a good-faith estimate of all government-imposed fees and taxes, before they enter into a contract. This notice must specify the amount of promotional discounts and when those discounts will expire. The law also gives customers a 24-hour period in which they can cancel new TV service without penalty. The new rule won't prevent TV providers from raising prices on existing customers, even when they're under contract. But the new transparency requirement is a step in the right direction.
The law's implementation will "put an end to the unconscionable business practice of charging consumers a rental fee for cable modem routers even if consumers do not use them!" consumer-advocacy group Public Knowledge said in a blog post. "This common-sense correction will permit consumers to continue to use their own equipment, and not be forced to pay for something they neither asked for nor needed." [...] The new law, passed as part of a budget bill, creates a "consumer right to accurate equipment charges" that prohibits TV and broadband providers from charging for "covered equipment provided by the consumer." Covered equipment is defined as "equipment (such as a router) employed on the premises of a person... to provide [TV service] or to provide fixed broadband Internet access service." The companies may not charge rental or lease fees in cases when "the provider has not provided the equipment to the consumer; or the consumer has returned the equipment to the provider."
The law also includes a right to transparency that requires TV providers to inform customers of the total monthly charges, including all company-imposed fees and a good-faith estimate of all government-imposed fees and taxes, before they enter into a contract. This notice must specify the amount of promotional discounts and when those discounts will expire. The law also gives customers a 24-hour period in which they can cancel new TV service without penalty. The new rule won't prevent TV providers from raising prices on existing customers, even when they're under contract. But the new transparency requirement is a step in the right direction.
ISP will just force you to rent comcast does in so (Score:2)
ISP will just force you to rent comcast does in some areas and if you want static ip
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Exactly what I was going to say. This does nothing. ISPs will continue to find ways to be as sleazy as humanly possible. It's what they do.
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Re: ISP will just force you to rent comcast does i (Score:2)
They will just add a Subscriber Line Access Fee to your bill they way they do on phone bills. Its a fee that goes straight into their pocket and is justified by claiming it is thd maintenance and support of the lastMile of copper/fiber/coax to your location. The bitch is a PRI is just 2 or 4 wires of copper connected by HDSL nids, yet they charge you for 23 -lines- because a PRI has 23 B channels.
no rental fee (Score:2)
Wonder if there will now be a monthly connection fee.
You know what's coming... (Score:2)
They'll tweak their services to make sure the hardware being used is "approved", and if not, the customer will need to "rent" it (oh no, they won't be made "for sale") in order to use the service.
Of course, that "specialized equipment" will be no different than a normal modem/router/whatever, except for that extra "tweak" to make it "officially approved".
Betcha there (conveniently) isn't a law that already prevents this tactic - perhaps why providers might not have fought this one so much.
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This is long overdue. I've personally gone to (figurative) war with Spectrum to recover a year's worth of a router fee for a router they never sent me, despite multiple recorded phone calls to their support people.
I won, but only by initiating a series of chargebacks through my credit card company.
Remember, for credit card companies, you are their real, actual customer. They derive the vast majority of their income from you. For once, your primary role is not as a product to be sold. If you are unhappy beca
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Why? The practice wasn't illegal at the time.
Easy fix... (Score:4, Interesting)
This month:
Equipment Rental - $10
Next month:
Customer Service for Third Party Equipment - $10
Re: Easy fix... (Score:2)
Nah. Its an Equipment Depreciation Fee
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As reported on Slashdot recently, Comcast will start applying data caps to all their customers next month. I think it was previously a quarter or a third who had to abide by the caps on their "unlimited" service. In the notice to customers, they described it as a "principle of fairness" where heavier users pay more.
The fee is $10 for each 50 GB over the cap.
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Those service providers now charging rent for those using their own equipment will find another way to get the lost money back from the rental fees, like just increasing the cost of each of the data spee
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Recently moved from Centurylink "$60-forever-we-promise" plan to Comcast ZOMG-SO-FAST-TEAR-THROUGH-DATA-CAP-IN-A-DAY for 90$ plan.
Opted for their modem as it makes the truly unlimited plan 20 bucks cheaper....and adds 20 to bill for rental. 110/month- No data-cap- Crazy fast- No installation funny business.
Not my favorite, but with the family at home all day streaming HD, and me reinstalling steam library on a hot new computer...
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And here is where, exactly?
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And here is where, exactly?
No idea where the poster you responded to is located.
But, as an example:
Here in Gothenburg, Sweden, from my current provider I can get 1Gbps/1Gbps with no data-cap for USD 94/month.
For me, that's a bit overkill, so I am running with 100Mbps/100Mbps for USD 35/month, which is more than sufficient for my household.
Note that there are no data-caps for physical connections here, period. For cellular, yes, that is fairly common. But for physical (fiber, copper) there are no caps.
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Where I live just today I saw a commercial for Spectrum which advertised in big letters they have no data caps.
This is neither a rebuttal nor even really a reply to your post, I just wanted to comment here publicly in case next year we're reading about Spectrum imposing caps. The last time this came up people here denied that ISPs ever advertised that.
Re: Easy fix... (Score:2)
You joke but some CLEC were known for calling it a -managed router fee- the intitial install charge of those T1 that split the internet and phones covered the purchase cost of the Adtran Total Access 900 series router, so renting it after buying it was bad verbage. Instead they charged you $50/mo to manage it.
An infinite blacklisting threadmill. (Score:5, Interesting)
The core problem is an anti-social psychopathic/sociopathic corporate culture. And a legal system where businesses can get partial immunity, and even when they don't, can buy themselves almost any crime.
Such businesses are what gives capitalism its bad reputation. But it really is just that we let such a culture exst.
So we must find a way to prevent that, right at its root.
Not ban some harmful behavior that will be replaced by another harmful behavior in a matter of days because people with no conscience will keep acting without conscience.
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So we must find a way to prevent that, right at its root.
Most countries already have this. It's called consumer protection laws which are actually worth a damn. No way the idea of charging someone a rental fee for equipment they don't want is legal in most western nations.
Re: An infinite blacklisting threadmill. (Score:2)
No, that *is* the blacklisting threadmill.
As I said, those laws will always merely catch up. It does not solve the origin of the problem, but tries to put a cork on every hole that pops up.
The origin needs to be solved: Our breeding of people and a culture that acts like psychopaths against others in our society.
No kid should grow up to become a Jeff Bezos. No kid should have to live in an environment thst harmful to it.
My ISP must have not realized... (Score:3, Interesting)
My Comcast provider STARTED billing me for two cable box rental fees right when this so-called "extension" began. They were not billing me before that, so when the extension was announced that must have prompted Comcast to go back to their records and look at who they were not yet billing.
The little problem here is I don't have *any* cable boxes. I do however have two cable cards that were issued to me when they started encrypting ALL channels, even the most very basic broadcast-only service tier. A bill had been passed saying that they had to issue up to two of these cards for free in exchange for turning on the digital encryption on all their services.
They however just *assumed* that if I had any service at all then I must have a cable box of some kind and thus they started billing me for two boxes I did not even have.
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So call them and fix it - what's the problem? You don't describe your attempts to get the charges cancelled/reversed, you just want to join the victim party.
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What happened next?
Re: My ISP must have not realized... (Score:4, Informative)
Good law (Score:3)
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Pity the President that started making effective changes in telecommunications issues got voted out, perhaps the next administration will do as you wish - oh, wait - the issue is local governments, not the Federal government, are the ones that signed away local competition for a public access cable channel and free internet for city hall and maybe the public library.
Follow-up with your state and local leaders, they are the ones responsible for your local choices (or lack thereof).
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"a law that would void all local exclusive franchise agreements"
Telecommunications Act of 1996
https://www.fcc.gov/general/te... [fcc.gov]
Not going to help much (Score:3, Insightful)
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I'm okay with that! At least the advertised price will be closer to reality.
I never paid a rental fee with comcast ... (Score:1)
I never paid a rental fee with comcast ... I got my own and was able to avoid the fee, to this day since forever.
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I don't have business class and I basically have a static IP, unless I spoof the MAC address on the router, then I get a new IP.. I still use dynamic DNS just in case but it never changes.
Raise price even when under contract? (Score:2)
"The new rule won't prevent TV providers from raising prices on existing customers, even when they're under contract."
I'm assuming raising the prices or any alteration of the contract means the customer can cancel the contract without penalty.