What?!? But then how are companies going to manipulate their pricing to attract new customers away from their competitors without actually cutting any revenue? They neeeed this to keep their numbers up so they look more attractive to investors and get more money. Are you not thinking of the shareholders? Why won't anyone think of the shareholders!

/s ... if that was not obvious

So, it goes like this:

"WE only want to charge you $X! But here are the fees the government tacks on. For your benefit, we'll break those fees out local/state/federal. See? It's them fucking you, not us.

And because we're all being hit so unfairly, we're just passing it on, cost of doing business. And there's overhead to dealing with all that nonsense, tacking that on as well. And one more, because fuck you gonna do? Break down all this mess and point fingers?"

Enrages everyone, but deflects blame from the ISP. Perfect, ain't it?

Funny thing is, much of that bullshit talk is true! If they roll it up in a nice total, you don't what or why you're paying. And yes, many of those fees, especially the small ones, are government taxation. Taxation they have to account for, and someone has to pay.

OTOH, the "fuck you" charges are disingenuous. Those should be wrapped up in $X.

Only answer I got is to make ISPs quasi-government/private hybrids, and regulate them like the utilities they are in 2024.

I expect them to profit. I expect them to provide for investors. That's how corporations work. You bet your money, you expect a fair return, and much of our individual funds (retirement) get a tiny piece. They should have money in the bank to absorb future risk, unknown costs. That's OK!

But why the hell are basic services, and I now count telecom as "basic", allowed such wild profit margins?!

We had such a "quasi" deal with the regional power company, seemed to work great (and I admit ignorance on the details). Leadership was elected and accountable. Until it got bought out by a private firm and prices spiked 40%. How the fuck was that legal?!

(Sorry about the rant OP. I was in the game for some time, thought about this a lot.)