It sounds like providers are trying to hide monthly fees in an attempt to obscure them. My ISP will let me ‘rent’ a modem for $10 a month, but I just decided to buy my own for $60 fifteen years ago. My brain says that’s $1800 (it could be wrong, it’s late). If I didn’t know I was paying a $10 monthly fee, I’d never have bought my own.

And if a fee is actually a tax, just put that on the bill. It’s pretty simple.

I will reserve my judgement until someone else repeats this. Too many times these types of papers end up being retracted due to mistakes or proven false later. FTL neutrinos come to mind.