Verizon recently announced a new surcharge to their high-speed DSL Internet customers. It appears BellSouth did so as well, and the US FCC sent them letters asking them to explain. BellSouth has reputedly since dropped the surcharge and will be crediting customers back to August 16th. The FCC is still waiting for Verizon to respond. There is the possibility of fines, if regulations have been violated. [via eWeek]
While Verizon at least claimed the charge had nothing to do with the a similarly priced federal charge (USF - Universal Service Fee) that has been phased out, it's hard to believe otherwise, given the timing and price. It's still my premise that they were instituting these fees to cover telecom losses possibly due to the increasing use of VoIP.
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