ISP's with term contracts for joining, a good revenue stream, after S92a?

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hellonearthisman

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#30426 7-Feb-2009 18:55

I see a lot of ISP's have term contracts for joining, ie If you stop before 12months, you have to pay a termination fee.

If a connection is terminated it means the early termination fees need to be paid. It's like an extra fine.

ISP's use to offer a contracts only if you got free hardware with your free connection, IT looks like those days are gone.

Which ISP's offer no contracts? I can see those little guy isp's going broke over allegations.

kyhwana2

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#194683 7-Feb-2009 21:22

I guess that depends on the ISP contracts.

If it's written in the contract that if they terminate you for any reason/AUP violations and you still have to pay the disconnection fee then they can?

Of course, since they no longer provide you with any services and THEY terminated your account, why should you have to pay that?

If all the contract says is that if YOU decide to break the contract and you have to pay the fee then you probably don't have to pay a termination fee. (Or at least you shouldn't be obliged to)

Disclaimer: IANAL..

pistolpower

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#194790 8-Feb-2009 20:39

But when they disconnect you THEY have BROKEN the whole CONTRACT THEMSELFS and so they can not go complaining about stuff in the contract.

cokemaster

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#194796 8-Feb-2009 20:52

pistolpower: But when they disconnect you THEY have BROKEN the whole CONTRACT THEMSELFS and so they can not go complaining about stuff in the contract.

I recommend that you read your ISP's terms and conditions that you agreed to, before making this claim. I believe there will probably be a provision added, if there isn't already to cover this type of activity.

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pistolpower

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#194799 8-Feb-2009 21:00

Hey they updated the terms and conditions. But regardless I would still argue the legailty of them discconecting me and steal the money I gave them to be connected for the month.

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#194802 8-Feb-2009 21:10

pistolpower: Hey they updated the terms and conditions. But regardless I would still argue the legailty of them discconecting me and steal the money I gave them to be connected for the month.

But under this act, they would be obligated to take action upon recieving a complaint.

If they disconnected you and your users were proven to be innocent - then my personal opinion is that you should have the downtime credited back and/or any disconnection fee waived.

If they disconnected you, and your users were proven to have broken the law - then sorry, I don't feel sorry for you and you shouldn't have any disconnection fee waived as it was your fault.

My personal opinion is that this law leaves much to be desired, and should have been sent back to the drawing board. I think that its more of a law problem than an ISP problem.

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nate

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#194805 8-Feb-2009 21:26

hellonearthisman: I see a lot of ISP's have term contracts for joining, ie If you stop before 12months, you have to pay a termination fee.

My understanding of it all was < 12 months and a termination fee was charged by Telecom Wholesale, but it is a sliding scale, ie, disconnect after 6 months, only have to pay half the termination fee. ISPs just pass this fee onto the consumer.

Can anyone in the industry confirm/deny?

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hellonearthisman

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#194823 8-Feb-2009 23:01

nate:
hellonearthisman: I see a lot of ISP's have term contracts for joining, ie If you stop before 12months, you have to pay a termination fee.

My understanding of it all was < 12 months and a termination fee was charged by Telecom Wholesale, but it is a sliding scale, ie, disconnect after 6 months, only have to pay half the termination fee. ISPs just pass this fee onto the consumer.

Can anyone in the industry confirm/deny?

There was talk of this in the Slingshot forums, one of the admin asked if the users would like what you described, they said yeah.

I also think xtra increased it's termination fee to $199 (as seen ontv).

Most of the terms and conditions, that can change at the will of the ISP, say that if you stop your contract you have to pay. It was not the ISP that terminated your connection, it was you, due to the allegations of your use on the internet.