Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

Speaking of BellSouth, I've recently seen the commercials for their Fast Access DSL. They must not be paying for better quality of service because the site loads pretty slowly. I had noticed some fine print on the television ad and I wanted to check it out.

They don't make it easy to find the total cost; there is a Pricing Terms and Conditions link way down at the bottom of the page in fine print. And then way down at the bottom of that page is this:

Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee

BellSouth imposes a Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee of $2.97 per month to offset costs incurred in complying with regulatory obligations. This fee, in the aggregate, offsets BellSouth's Universal Service Fund payments for the DSL used in our FastAccess DSL Service and recovery of other expenses incurred to support specific regulatory requirements unique to BellSouth as a DSL provider. This fee is not a tax or charge imposed by a government entity.

Evry industry has some sort of regulatory requirements to meet. Imagine if you bought a range, or even a loaf of bread, and after paying for it, the manufacturer then demanded another 10% as a regulatory recovery fee. How long do you think that would last? When we pay for a product we expect that the price of the product covers all of the costs to deliver the product. Why don't the phone companies understand that?