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Drastic Increase in Fees

dlfuller2

Fees on a new contract are substantially higher than the current bill.

Regional Sports Network Fee is $7.89 in the new contract, but only $4.99 on this month's no-contract bill.

Fios TV Broadcast Fee is $4.49 in the new contract, $1.99 on the bill.

Why? And, these "fees", unlike required taxes and charges, should be included in the basic cost of services.

Comments

jonjones1

@dlfullerwrote:
Fees on a new contract are substantially higher than the current bill.
Regional Sports Network Fee is $7.89 in the new contract, but only $4.99 on this month's no-contract bill.
Fios TV Broadcast Fee is $4.49 in the new contract, $1.99 on the bill.
Why? And, these "fees", unlike required taxes and charges, should be included in the basic cost of services.

However like cable companies they are known as below the line fees. This way it looks good to have customers sign up for service at $75 etc and then get hit with $20 in fees, taxes, surcharges, and bogus fees added on. So it’s $95 or higher.

if you drop tv you save thousands in costs let alone fees and bogus surcharges. You can get a streaming tv service for $35 with no taxes, fees or surcharges. DirectTVNOW or Sling or Hulu is much better. And you can get a VoIP service like magic jack for $35 for the doggle with a free year of service. You can port your number to them for a one time $20 fee. And you save big money.

then on internet just use Fios or cable internet. No taxes or fees on internet only. However Verizon in NY puts a bogus NYS Municipal Construction surcharge on the internet for $2.49 per month. Cable does not put these bogus fees on internet.

so the choice is yours. Research everything and then make up your mind as what is best for you.

mitchd1234

Thanks for your post. VZ fees did get out of hand, and I canceled my VZ service. I recently returned and did a few things to save money:

The dreaded Regional Sports Fee. I don't watch sports, would prefer to play them. The agent told me there are two custom TV packages that don't charge the sports fee. I signed up for the "Custom TV Lifestyle & Reality" which is supposted to be Sports fee free...time will tell when the first bill arrives. Caution, you will lose some channels that are not even sports related like CNBC, but do have CNBC world.

The other thing I did is I bought my own Actiontec router for $11 on ebay, rather than renting theirs....that saved ~13 a month. Suggest you get a VZ approved model. See https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/equipment/routers for more info.

They offered to bundle phone for free, which means more taxes and fees. I declined, I'm a very happy OOMA user, and have a cell. A VZ phone is useless if the power goes out for multiple days beyond the battery backup period. (if you have a backup power supply)

They had been charging for my for a "required" set top box. It seemed to be impossible to order without at least one STB. I used a cablecard through the computer, which is ~$5 a month, using a HD HomeRun Prime device with 3 built in tuners. Most smart TV's and computers can provide a better experience than a set-top box. I then use Mythtv for my DVR, ...better for me, and no fee. You CAN get a service without a set-top box, but I needed to work with the online agent. Went in, did the credit check, contacted the VZ agent. The agent modified my order to remove the set-top, and add the cable card BEFORE you place the order. Per FCC rules...they can't force you to get a set-top box, but they DO make you jump through hoops.

[Deleted User]

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