Current Events > 24% of your cable or internet bill is bogus fees.

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 11:40:42 AM
#1:


https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/zmjqa5/24-of-your-cable-tv-bill-is-just-bogus-fees-study-says

A new study by Consumer Reports finds that at least 25 percent of your monthly cable TV bill is made of sneaky fees, many of which have no actual purpose outside of making your cable provider richer.
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The consumer groups study took a closer look at 787 consumer cable bills from 13 top cable providers and found that while the average user paid about $156.71 a month for cable TV, users in reality paid $217.42 a month once fees were added. In other words, about 24 percent of your cable TV bill each month ($37.11) is made up of fees and hidden surcharges.

According to Consumer Reports, cable TV and broadband providers increasingly use hidden fees to advertise one price, then hit consumers with a significantly higher rate once the bill comes due. As a result, the cable industry generates about $450 per year per consumer in fees.
"With the proliferation of add-on fees, it's nearly impossible for consumers to find out the full cost of a cable package before they get locked into a contractand cable companies count on this," Consumer Reports Senior Policy Counsel Jonathan Schwantes said in a blog post.

Whats more, many of these fees are designed specifically to mislead in this fashion, the study found. For example, in recent years many cable TV providers began charging whats called a broadcast TV fee, which is simply a part of the cost cable providers pay to license broadcast content, but buried below the line so its not included in the advertised rate.


At&t wants to tax me 3 different "taxes" for renting their modem lmao.

Or rather, they are disguising their own fees as state, city and local taxes.

These are scumbag companies.
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LightHawKnight
01/10/20 11:41:05 AM
#2:


Regional monopoly.

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ZevLoveDOOM
01/10/20 11:41:29 AM
#3:


that's how they get ya.
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Pus_N_Pecans
01/10/20 11:42:37 AM
#4:


That sounds about right. These places are just bad as Ticketmaster with this stuff.

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SK8T3R215
01/10/20 11:42:52 AM
#5:


darkphoenix181 posted...
At&t wants to tax me 3 different "taxes" for renting their modem lmao.

Imagine renting a modem then complaining about the taxes instead.

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#6
Post #6 was unavailable or deleted.
darkphoenix181
01/10/20 11:44:36 AM
#7:


Yea basically last year at&t doubled their admin fee across all services which they will claim over the phone is a tax the government forces them to collect.
That is 100% a lie.

It is rather a fee the government ALLOWS them to collect to pay back themselves for being so nice to create infrastructure or some bs like that.

Unfortunately, the government is their little bitch.
We need someone like Bernie to bring the Bern.
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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 11:45:16 AM
#8:


SK8T3R215 posted...
Imagine renting a modem then complaining about the taxes instead.

At&t forces you to. All in all it came out cheaper to go with them than xfinity for the year.
Comcast does bogus charges too anyways.
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FrozenXylophone
01/10/20 11:47:13 AM
#9:


darkphoenix181 posted...
We need someone like Bernie to bring the Bern.


#FeelTheBern
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ScazarMeltex
01/10/20 11:50:47 AM
#10:


Capitalism

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 11:55:43 AM
#11:


ScazarMeltex posted...
Capitalism

Basically they are getting away with false advertisement on their prices as well as outright lying to consumers about what these fees are.

But a bill last year was supposed to change that but got stalled.

Smh
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Squall28
01/10/20 11:57:34 AM
#12:


The stupid thing is they'll charge you for shit sometimes that isn't even applicable. Why do I need to pay a TV fee when I don't have cable TV?

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 11:59:11 AM
#13:


Squall28 posted...
The stupid thing is they'll charge you for shit sometimes that isn't even applicable. Why do I need to pay a TV fee when I don't have cable TV?

Who does that? Xfinity?

Luckily that isn't on my bill.

I been looking for a not at at&t, not comcast internet for my area but they all seem to be just as bad.
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Solar_Crimson
01/10/20 12:01:55 PM
#14:




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garlic powder
01/10/20 12:02:41 PM
#15:


why are millennials cutting the cord!?

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:03:00 PM
#16:


garlic powder posted...
why are millennials cutting the cord!?

Lmao
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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:04:27 PM
#17:


This kinda bs almost makes feel like getting politically active so I can try to make this something that gets attention on a national stage.

Like go out and give out pamphlets showing them lying to consumers, etc.
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Rexdragon125
01/10/20 12:06:02 PM
#18:


inb4 "Just stop being poor" or "Why don't you start your own ISP"
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#19
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Willy_Lopez
01/10/20 12:08:09 PM
#20:


Its only the old people who pays to rent modems, right?

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Questionmarktarius
01/10/20 12:08:22 PM
#21:


Simple workaround:


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DevsBro
01/10/20 12:09:57 PM
#22:


I hear that if you call to cancel and say it's because it's too expensive, they'll give you discounts immediately.

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:12:50 PM
#23:


@Willy_Lopez posted...
Its only the old people who pays to rent modems, right?

At&t doesn't let you use your own.

I was gonna get xfinity, I even bought an arris on amazon and a router already.

But turns out that despite the previous owners of my house having cable at one time, they cut the coaxial out of the wall.

When I called xfinity, they said I would need to hire an electrician as they got sued for messing uo someone's apartment.

At first they were going to be cheaper, bit that added cost made it about the same.
Then at&t offered me a giftcard and their service was just plug in play since the previous owners used them.

In a year I will switch because that is the game you have to play.
Xfinity goes up to like $70 a month after first year from $30 a month fyi.

I returned to amazon btw with 0 issue the modem etc
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spudger
01/10/20 12:15:29 PM
#24:


darkphoenix181 posted...
renting their modem lmao.

dont. buy it instead.

its cheaper
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spudger
01/10/20 12:16:13 PM
#25:


M_Live posted...
I don't get why cable is so expensive to begin with tbh

american greed
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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:16:44 PM
#26:


DevsBro posted...
I hear that if you call to cancel and say it's because it's too expensive, they'll give you discounts immediately.

I might try that. I can supposedly still cancel since it has not been 30 days yet.

Other than paying for the days of use ofc

I suspect they will try to add fees to that but I can probably just not pay them if they violate the contract.

Ofc, that means I need to get the coax cable down the wall and all that if I do cancel. And xfinity will have bogus fees too.
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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:21:22 PM
#27:


@spudger posted...
dont. buy it instead.

its cheaper

https://amp.reddit.com/r/ATT/comments/6l3bbg/can_you_use_your_own_modem_and_router_with_uverse/

Btw it not cheaper if you switch in a year anyways of they did allow it.

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LordRazziel
01/10/20 12:23:01 PM
#28:


But they say no hidden fees!

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:25:00 PM
#29:


Lamo so this is why they are allowed to dictate that you have to rent their modem

https://forums.att.com/conversations/att-internet-equipment/using-own-modem-router/5df02dd5bad5f2f60608973f

Cable CANNOT force you to rent their modem.
Dsl can.

Wtf
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berlyman101
01/10/20 12:27:12 PM
#30:


why does anyone have cable in 2020? I'd only have it if I had fuck you money. even then, though. Streaming services have almost everything you'd want and I have the cheapest internet option at $30 per month. I'm not sure if I'd ever need more but it works fine for me with my own router/modem for 100 bucks. Most people don't pay attention to what they pay.

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Lonestar2000
01/10/20 12:28:49 PM
#31:


darkphoenix181 posted...
At&t forces you to.
Just another reason to not use that shitty company.

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darkphoenix181
01/10/20 12:30:30 PM
#32:


Lonestar2000 posted...
Just another reason to not use that shitty company.

Well I only plan to for a year the switch to xfinity, but they are also a shitty company.

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Error1355
01/10/20 12:31:47 PM
#33:


I dunno what it's like at places like Comcast (since they own so many networks themselves), but I know there is very little profit margin on cable for the company I work with. The vast majority of the monthly cost of cable are like FOX and ESPN fees. Which always is funny when a station goes 'YOUR CABLE COMPANY WON'T RENEW CONTRACT CALL AND COMPLAIN' and make it seem like the cable company is the bad guy, when the station is literally telling viewers to call and demand higher bills lol

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Questionmarktarius
01/10/20 12:45:16 PM
#34:


Error1355 posted...
Which always is funny when a station goes 'YOUR CABLE COMPANY WON'T RENEW CONTRACT CALL AND COMPLAIN' and make it seem like the cable company is the bad guy, when the station is literally telling viewers to call and demand higher bills lol
Also those channels have to be on the "basic" package, for some reason.

The average cable bill for one month will get you a pretty badass antenna, that'll last a handful of decades: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Channel-Master-Deep-Fringe-Advantage-100-Mile-Range-Outdoor-Antenna-CM-3020/203763044
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