Technology

I don’t see what’s so complicated. Where’s the burden of writing “because we fucking feel like it” on the bill?

Exactly. How can you track payment but not write them down?

We have government regulators in Australia. Surprise, surprise, fees aren't lengthy, can be explained, and are investigated by the "Consumer Watchdog"—literally what the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is called—if shit's starting to look shady or unreasonable. We love capitalism, but we put a long socialism leash on it to reduce strain, deception, and fraud that makes victims of smaller businesses or individuals.

I love it. It makes a lot of shady ideas never leave the board room and if they do, chances are it ends up being really bad PR. All the while, playing the capitalism game well still nets high reward.

Broadband ISPs also had protected monopoly or duopoly status for a really long time. It's been fucking hilarious watching the cable company freak out because T-Mobile 5G is a viable option in my area now.

So…. Wait how did that work? If a customer called in and said they were being overcharged, or that they were paying X for Y and only getting half of Y… what happened?

Where are you getting all these hands?

Last time i moved i got cold called by Comcast to sign up for Internet. I asked them the price, they gave some deal. I asked what will be the price in 2 years when the contract was up. "Oh, well that really depends on what services you sign up for." I tell them i want only Internet at this given speed and i will never sign up for anything else.

...the woman on the phone just stopped talking. I asked can she not tell me the price after all the specials run out and i get my last bill in the contract. She said "i dont know what you want me to say."

Apparently they dont want people to know how screwed you are with Internet. I told the woman that i was going to write a letter letting them know that her inability to answer a simple question was the reason i was not going with their service. She hung up on me. Sent the letter and i got a call a few weeks later asking ifni wanted a super crazy deal they "never give to anyone." I asked my question again and they couldn't tell me my final bill so i hung up and reported the number as spam to my phone carrier.

The ISPs arguments are bogus, anyway. The claim they don't know the costs when offering a contract, but suddenly remember each and everything when writing the bill...

If they can't even give you an itemized bill, they're making a number up.

My work is making bills out of ISPs' data. Every kb of mobile data and every call minute is tracked and rated.

Yeah this isn't even the complicated tax spaghetti. It's just their junk fees.

It would be pretty bad for their reputation when its bad already.

But consequence? No. We can't get onto the Internet without them.

Off the top of my head, I can think of a few for purely internet:

• Base cost
• Late fee
• Static IP
• Email Services (usually free and falling out of fashion)
• Taxes (don’t know if this counts as a fee for this?)
• There’s likely a “remote/rural location” fee
• There’s likely an “only option” “fee”

The last two are likely what’s being fought against.

My IP hasn’t changed in the four years I’ve lived here.. why is there even a fee for that when I’ve seemingly gotten it for free?

And Ajit Pai.