That’s above my pay grade, might need a lawyer to interpret. I don’t have a good feeling about their use of the word mandate, it could be interpreted narrowly or broadly. Like, if the city mandates they have to pay a fee to repave the road in front of their building, can they pass that on to you? Seems like there should be some delineation between their cost of doing business, and a tax or fee directly connected to your circuit. Ideally it should ALL be their cost of business, with the possible exception of a tax they are expected to collect from you and remit to the government, like sales tax.
But I am not a lawyer and didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. In fact I’m not very good at deciphering lawyer speak. From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Jason McKemie Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2026 7:00 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Wholesale Regulatory Fees New circuit with a company I have had circuits with for many years - although they did get acquired. The line on the MSA is: "We bill and collect regulatory surcharges, taxes and fees that are set by federal, state and local governments. These charges are subject to change from time to time. If local/state or federal government mandate any surcharges, taxes and fees they will be additional to the price below and billed monthly." There was a similar statement on previous MSAs, however there was no charge despite the same geographic endpoints on the transport circuits. On Wed, Apr 1, 2026, 6:50 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: So this is a new circuit and they are disclosing the fees upfront? And I assume it involves a term contract rather than month-to-month? Seems like the fact they call it a fee is irrelevant, add it to the circuit cost and that’s what they are proposing to charge. I guess my question would be, by calling it a fee, does that mean they can arbitrarily raise it at any time despite you having a contract price? Seems vaguely like the terms when leasing office space, it can be a gross lease, net lease, triple net, etc. From: AF <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of Jason McKemie Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2026 6:36 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Wholesale Regulatory Fees So this is just certain providers tacking on whatever fees they feel like? I didn't pay anything when I had a transport on the state's network. I suppose I'm just wondering if there is a legit regulatory basis for this sort of thing or if it is arbitrarily defined by the provider. On Wed, Apr 1, 2026, 4:11 PM TJ Trout <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Try buying a transport circuit directly from at&t, they charge 60% in fees! On Wed, Apr 1, 2026, 1:08 PM Josh Luthman <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Fees are by definition something to add to the bottom line. They are not taxes. Fees and taxes are two different things. On Wed, Apr 1, 2026 at 3:06 PM Jason McKemie <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I just had my upstream start charging "regulatory fees" for some new circuits. The transport is via AT&T. I've had multiple wholesale and ptp circuits over the years and have never paid this sort of fee. They claim they previously absorbed this as a cost of doing business, but the new owners are re-structuring how this is handled. The fees amount to almost 14% of the total transport. Is this an actual thing, or is it just a fake tax they're adding to pad their bottom line? -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
-- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
