US Finally Prohibits ISPs From Charging For Routers They Don't Provide
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A new U.S. law prohibits broadband and TV providers from charging "rental" fees for equipment that customers have provided themselves. A U.S. government spending bill approved by Congress and signed by President Trump last month includes new requirements for television and broadband providers. A new "consumer right to accurate equipment charges" prohibits the companies from charging customers for "covered equipment provided by the consumer." Covered equipment is defined as "equipment (such as a router) employed on the premises of a person... to provide [TV service] or to provide fixed broadband Internet access service." The companies may not charge rental or lease fees in cases when "the provider has not provided the equipment to the consumer; or the consumer has returned the equipment to the provider." The new law is an update to the Communications Act and is scheduled to apply six months after passage, which would be June 20. The law gives the Federal Communications Commission an option to extend the deadline by six months if the FCC "finds that good cause exists for such an additional extension." One ISP in particular that's been requiring customers to pay a monthly fee for equipment they own is Frontier, which charges a $10 a month "Wi-Fi Router" fee, even if the router they use is fully compatible with the service and requires no additional work on Frontier's part. Frontier told Ars that it will comply with the new law, but it apparently won't give customers a break on rental fees until it's actually in place. "Once the new law is effective, Frontier plans to comply with the requirements," a company spokesperson told them.
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