Though there are a few small government-mandated fees on one's landline telephone bill, there are also plenty of FAKE "fees", made up by the phone companies themselves, for which they try to make you think they're simply passing on government fees. In an attempt to make you think that they're not raising their rates on you when they actually are, Frontier simply adds (or increases) a fake "surcharge" instead. For instance, their "internet surcharge" (which they never used to have) simply keeps increasing -- so even those on a rate-locked, promotional package must pay the higher rate -- because after all, it's not an "increase".... but a.... "surcharge." Well, for those with Frontier (ex Verizon) it just got surreal. In the new bill that came this month, along with word that they would indeed be increasing their monthly rates YET AGAIN (whoo-hoo!), they have now announced ANOTHER new fake "surcharge" as well ... and this one is one for the books! Quote from this month's bill: “Frontier is required by federal, state and/or local authorities to move our facilities to accommodate road construction. Beginning with your next bill, Frontier will implement a new recurring Frontier Road Recovery surcharge of $1.22 month, which will be used to help offset those expenses.” That's like saying: “Frontier is required by federal and state authorities to pay the minimum wage. So next month, we’ll start charging a $2/month "Minimum Wage Surcharge" to help offset the cost of paying our employees for their work." Or "Federal law requires us to have sanitary working conditions, so next month we'll also start charging a $3/month "Janitorial Surcharge" to help offset the cost of having employee bathrooms." And by classifying these as fake "surcharges", they can raise the rates on everyone, even those locked into rate-locked promotional plans. When I called to complain, the Frontier agent had the nerve at first to try to lie and tell me that this "road construction" surcharge was a government surcharge -- until I asked her if she wanted to stand by that on a recorded line (on their end, for "customer service" purposes). Then she meekly admitted that no, it wasn't a government surcharge, but regardless, everyone's being charged it, even those who are rate-locked. The chutzpah is unreal. I'm waiting for the "7-day-a-week" surcharge, where they'll add on a $15/mo "surcharge" for offering their service 7 days a week. (And yes, I'm going to disconnect my landline before the summer as soon as I set up alternate internet access). I don't use my landline phone anymore, and one can only stand so much of this sh*t.
I have the Magic Jack and pay $99 for 5 years of VOIP phone service. Never have to deal with local phone companies
The Telephone is probably the most profitable and the most corrupted patented device (so far) in human history. This is because communication is very fundamental to the human animal....as is greed. From the photo finish at the US Patent office (helps to have relatives in interesting places....) to the patent for the first automatic telephone switch by....Almon Brown Strowger, an undertaker who was getting beat out by a competitor whose wife was the local telephone operator (helps to have relatives in interesting places....) the telephone biz has ALWAYS been a little (lot) on the seedy side. SSDD. I manufacture dial tone for a living, and I'm on the precipice of being forced to find another 'forever job' by automation....which is OK, since for most people a copper-fed, government regulated, dial-tone telephone is kinda like a whale-oil lamp or a buggy whip. They're still around, but there's not much demand for very many new ones. It's LITERALLY against the law for me to bad-mouth a competitor, so I'll have to leave Frontier's billing practices for others to comment about, but I will say that market forces apply to the communications industry as much as any other......and most humans are bipedal. ...just sayin....
Thank goodness telephone company is not a monopoly anymore! I use Vonage for "land line". It's VOIP and I rarely use it anymore. The line dies if there is a power outage and my internet router dies. So what's the point? I don't know. For me it was a perk a long time ago when I worked for the company that developed the VOIP DSP software that ran on their home phone adapter (there is probably code I wrote running on the thing). I kind of keep it as a habit, but the fees are stupid and I will get rid of it soon. Just need to figure out how to port the number out to a cell phone. The technology for a land line has become a relic and the people selling it still clinging and doing stupid things. Sound familiar? Fossil fuel, movie theaters, record companies (what are records?) auto makers all display signs of this. They are all walking dead and they smell of decomposition. Too bad we still need to interact with them now and then.
I guess the term "landline" did not exist, wasn't needed, before the advent of cell phones (aka mobile phones). Sorta the reason we live on a planet called "dirt".
