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Comment by eppp | Hacker News Reader

The taxes and fees change all the time. As an ISP you have no control over what the government fees are going to be. How can you list a price up front when you are at the mercy of the people making up these rules?

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You are able to charge me for all these taxes and fees. why are you not able to list these charges in details on my monthly invoice?

These invoices aren’t issued up front. The marketing copy gets ugly and confusing.

The fees are required to be listed 'at the point of sale' not on advertising. Basically they have to tell you at signup what they are going to charge you. Seems like an extremely reasonable requirement.

Ah that is a lot more reasonable. But what is the nature of these fees? Can they change over time or based on use? Does Comcast know at signup what the fee will be when billed?

So treat them like any other business expense and simplify pricing. They don't list the costs of their data centers, employees, etc. Pricing transparency >> marketing copy.

It doesn’t sound like these are like any other expense though. Comcast doesn’t control them.

Why does that matter? Pricing should be easy to understand for customers.

In places like Europe telcos are able to do it just fine. What you see is what you pay.

Why would a bill be a problem? Is this not about upfront advertising?

It's not about advertising.

> The rules require broadband providers to display, at the point of sale, labels that show prices, including introductory rates, as well as speeds, data allowances, and other critical broadband service information.

It’s preferable that the burden fall on the ISP than on the consumer imho.

The ISP should be free to boldly call out on the billing statement that those fees are government mandated, if they choose to.

List current rates and notify when there are changes. Banks do this already

Not only banks but countless other services and businesses. Stock markets change minute to minute. Cryptocurrency changes by the minute. Heck even a grocery store has thousands of items that change from day to day and they seem to manage to list current prices all the time. In Canada they even guarantee the price is correct or get the item free or $10 off if item is more then $10. So I think everyone can see this excuse is a non issue.

Grocery stores do not advertise with tax-inclusive prices, in fact the opposite. Heck, I live in a no-sales-tax state and even then, some items might still be taxed because they are considered "prepared foods" and fall under hospitality taxes, so the shelf price and total at the register may not be the same.

this is a US problem. everywhere else I've been manages to put the tax on the labels

if they know enough to bill for it, they know enough to make it a line item on the bill. it's really silly to pretend otherwise.

What a great gig! I ring a random doorbell. I say "You owe me $2" you say "What for?" I say "...I don't know but you still owe me $2 so I'll take that now."

Oh it's not a random doorbell, it's a customer who's lawn I mow. ok. Totally ok then.

Don't most businesses have to deal with varying supply/input costs to some degree?

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