At issue is the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019, which was signed into law back in December. The act added new language to the Communications Act of 1934, known as section 642. That new section requires service providers to be more transparent about their charges and bars them from charging fees for equipment they don’t provide to consumers. It was originally set to go into effect on June 20th, but the FCC’s decision adds another six months to that deadline.
The decision was actually made back on April 3, but sites like Ars Technica picked up on it this week. In its ruling, the FCC cited the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the need for service providers to focus on maintaining access, saying, “We find that good cause exists for granting a blanket extension of section 642’s effective date until December 20, 2020.”
Frontier is reportedly taking advantage of the extension, telling Ars it plans to comply with the law when it takes effect in December. The company has been criticized for charging rental fees to cover support costs on customer-owned routers, despite not offering support or repair services for the gear.
For now, it’s a good idea for customers who discover suspicious rental fees tied to the equipment they own themselves to reach out to their service providers and see if they’re open adjusting charges before the December deadline.
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