Ontario resident Patricia Robson is looking to launch a class action lawsuit against Rogers Wireless. The reason is those 911 service fees… these fees dispatch police, fire and ambulance services. She says that no more than $0.10 is actually required by regulators to pay for the necessary telecommunications infrastructure. Rogers currently charges $0.50 a month for its 911fees (Bell and Telus charge $0.75).
[Read the rest from MobileSyrup]
It is sad, though not surprising, that these "fees" are charged. Verizon angered many customers by adding "administrative fees" at over a dollar per account, basically increasing subscriber fees with non-government-forced fees. Many argued that was a breach of contract and attempted to get released from contracts sans early termination fees, but Verizon faught them.
A BBB complaint I filed only resulted in having a one-time cfredit equal to the fees I would have been charged through the end of the contract term.
Unfortunately revenue potential is massive... just pennies of some fee on a major carrier can add up to millions.
I just pulled up my AT&T bill....wow. Here's a list of all the misc. and hidden charges on my bill:
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge: 0.43
Federal Universal Service Charge: 2.45
State Public Utility Surcharge: 0.16
Local Wireless 911 Surcharge: 2.75
CA Advanced Services Fund (CASF): 0.25
CHCF A: 0.13
CHCF B: 0.25
Relay Service Device Fund: 0.19
State 911 Tax: 0.42
Teleconnect Fund: 0.09
Universal Lifeline: 1.12
City Utility Users Tax: 7.38
Total: $15.62
I mean, come on. What is going on here? This is beyond ridiculous. Talk about getting nickel and dimed to death.
If I didn't need data so much I'd consider just moving everything to prepaid. Yeah they probably fold some of that into the cost, but at least I don't have to see it itemized every month.
