Bob Sullivan (love reading his stuff) at MSNBC recently wrote this article. He talks about why hidden fees are a big deal and how consumers are sometimes oblivious to the small print. I decided to do a little investigation of my own to see how much in sneaky fees I’m paying. Here’s what I found…
AT&T
We get our home phone, long distance and DSL service through AT&T (used to be BellSouth). According to their website’s advertised prices, I should be paying $87.94. But, my bill each month is $101.82. That’s $13.88 each month in sneaky fees. The sneaky fees are:
- $1.01 Federal Excise Tax
- $0.80 FL - State Communications Tax (local service)
- $0.61 FL - Local Communications Tax (local service)
- $0.11 Telecommunications Access System Act Surcharge
- $0.50 Emergency 911 Service
- $6.50 FCC Authorized Charge for Network Access
- $0.50 Storm Recovery Fee
- $0.71 Federal Universal Service Charge
- $0.99 Carrier Cost Recovery Fee
- $1.27 Federal Universal Service Fund Fee
- $0.50 FL - State Communications Tax (long distance service)
- $0.38 FL - Local Communications Tax (long distance service)
Verizon Wireless
My mobile phone is through Verizon Wireless. I subscribe to a PDA/Smartphone plan + a text messaging plan. According to their website’s advertised prices, I should be paying $83.99. But, each month, my bill is $90.99. That’s $7.00 each month in sneaky fees. The sneaky fees are:
- $0.73 Federal Universal Service Charge
- $0.07 Regulatory Charge
- $0.70 Administrative Charge
- $0.50 FL State E911 Fee
- $4.17 FL Communications Services Tax
- $0.83 Local Communications Service Tax
Summary
So, just on my local and long distance, DSL and mobile phone service on a monthly basis, I’m paying $20.88 in sneaky fees. On an annual basis, that’s $250.56. But, what can you do about it? Not much, that’s for sure. You can either eat the fees or go to another company that will stick you with just as many fees or just go without that service. I don’t want to go without my mobile phone. 
