at&t taxes, etc. in Orange County/California

[vega07]

to those who have received their first bill, will you please tell me how much you were charged in fees, taxes, and surcharges?

I thought t-mo was bad but after looking at a sample bill from my online wireless account (I haven't received my actual first bill yet), at&t (no surprise here) beats t-mo hands down.

for my first bill (included the prorating), there is a charge of $30.96 for taxes, fees, and surcharges. and for every month after, it drops down to $15.37. so I guess it's around 15-16 bucks for these charges.

is this really what I will see on my bills? what are you guys charged on your actual bills?

I paid around 7-8 bucks when I was with t-mo. but this increase or should i say HUGE JUMP (2x) screams SCAM to me.

at&t really does suck. I hate that I love the iphone.

[mkrishnan]

I thought t-mo was bad ... I paid around 7-8 bucks when I was with t-mo.

I've heard T-Mobile panned for fees several times, but I pay less than $5 in fees on T-Mobile, and even your $7-8 sounds lower than anything I've ever heard of before. I know AT&T's fees and surcharges are not lower (what you described sounds typical), but is anyone lower than the $5-8 (and if not, why complain about T-Mobile?)?

[vega07]

now seeing at&t's charges, I sure wish I was back with t-mo.

[mkrishnan]

now seeing at&t's charges, I sure wish I was back with t-mo.

That's actually most of why I'm so hesitant to switch to AT&T. My plan costs less than the comparable 2G (and even less than the comparable 3G) plan, and then the fees are quite a bit more. Between the two, if I went for feature parity, it sounds like I'd pay about $45/mo more with AT&T, and if I went for reduced but livable features (less minutes, and less SMS), it would still be about $30/mo more, at least. So I really would like 3G, and yet... I'm paying less than $70/mo inclusive of fees now, for 1000 minutes and 500 SMS, and I'm not inclined to leave that plan.

[siurpeeman]

i'm live in orange county and for the base everything plan with $5 text option i paid $4.45 in taxes and stuff. i don't know why you're getting charged $15-16.

[Cynicalone]

Well I don't live in California but here is my bill details...

iPhone 3G
Monthly Service $109.99
Credit's, Adj & Other Charges + Goverment Fees & Taxes $12.89

Laptop Connect Card
Monthly Service $60.00
Credit's, Adj & Other Charges + Goverment Fees & Taxes $5.33

For a wonderful total of $188.21 :)

[mkrishnan]

i'm live in orange county and for the base everything plan with $5 text option i paid $4.45 in taxes and stuff. i don't know why you're getting charged $15-16.

So what's your total actual monthly bill, then?

[vega07]

i'm live in orange county and for the base everything plan with $5 text option i paid $4.45 in taxes and stuff. i don't know why you're getting charged $15-16.

log onto your online wireless account, click on my profile, then user information. scroll down to contract information and click on customer service summary.

you will then download a rough estimate of your very first bill and bills thereafter.

mind sharing with us what your taxes amount to as suggested by the document you downloaded?

[Rybold]

i'm live in orange county and for the base everything plan with $5 text option i paid $4.45 in taxes and stuff. i don't know why you're getting charged $15-16.

Same here. I live in Laguna Hills. I only pay $4.45 in taxes.

[theappleguy24]

log onto your online wireless account, click on my profile, then user information. scroll down to contract information and click on customer service summary.

you will then download a rough estimate of your very first bill and bills thereafter.

mind sharing with us what your taxes amount to as suggested by the document you downloaded?

I live in OC and mine are also $15.49? That can't be right...I have the 39.99 option + 1500 for $15.00. I just purchased my iphone on the 22nd and if these are the taxes, I might have to change my mind on this phone. What gives? Is it because its my first 3g bill?

[goosnarrggh]

Well I don't live in California but here is my bill details...

iPhone 3G
Monthly Service $109.99
Credit's, Adj & Other Charges + Goverment Fees & Taxes $12.89
You mean to say that "other charges, fees & taxes" are all lumped together into a single line item with no further details or explanations? I'd find it insulting if any contractor tried to pass that kind of "detail" off on an invoice to me.

I suggest you get on the line with customer service and persist until you find out the exact name and purpose of each and every fee and service charge that's being applied to your account.

[vega07]

i read elsewhere that when you sign the contract, you agree to these (*coughs* FRAUDULENT!!) charges.

what I'm hoping now is that my ACTUAL bill is only 5-6-7 dollars. maybe the sample bill online is wrong...god I hope so.

[theappleguy24]

Well we do have a return policy to take the phone back if we dont like it right?

I mean my first pro rated one is 15.49. So Does that mean after my second bill it will drop back down to $4 something?

[mkrishnan]

You mean to say that "other charges, fees & taxes" are all lumped together into a single line item...

I think the way they're reported is pretty pro forma and doesn't vary much from carrier to carrier... that's not so much the question as how much the charges are / should be.

Usually, the service charges are summarized at the front of the bill, but if you dig, they're also broken out. This is an example, from my current month's bill with T-Mobile...

Taxes, Fees and Surcharges
Item Amount
Government Fees and Taxes
Federal Universal Service Fund 0.91
State Sales Tax 2.59
Operational 911 Charge 0.19
County 911 0.18
Regulatory Programs Fee* 0.86
Taxes, Fees and Surcharges 4.73

So in my example, my bill is $71.19 = 39.99 for airtime, 19.99 for internet and hotspots, 4.99 for SMS (64.97 total for all the "monthly plans"), $4.73 in surcharges, and $1.49 in getting dinged for one 411 call ( :rolleyes: ... my usual bill is around $69.50 ... the surcharges vary by a few cents each month, but not AFAIK by more than $0.25....).

FWIW my phone area code is 248 (Detroit) and my address is in Chicago. IIRC, some phone charges actually go by the locality that owns your phone number (Detroit for me), and not the one in which you live... so sometimes your surcharges will change if you change your phone number to a new area code, but they do not generally if you move. That's federally mediated, AFAIK, and not up to the carriers.

Although I do note that everyone who claims that they have $4 or $5 surcharges from AT&T seems to decline to actually provide more of their billing details, whereas everyone who says they have higher charges (which seems to be the norm from other threads and from talking to friends) has provided the overall data.

Can some people post their equivalent fee breakout for AT&T... preferably both people who do and do not have "high" (>$10) surcharges?

[ottergal]

i read elsewhere that when you sign the contract, you agree to these (*coughs* FRAUDULENT!!) charges.

what I'm hoping now is that my ACTUAL bill is only 5-6-7 dollars. maybe the sample bill online is wrong...god I hope so.

I'm not sure what you mean by fraudulent.. the only charge that's on your bill that the cellular companies are keeping is the regulatory recovery cost fee. That's a fee that the companies can levy against customers to offset the cost of implimenting goverment programs (like number portability). MIne shows as $1.25.

Everything else is a passthrough... so if you don't like it, take it up with the government.

(for the record, the taxes/fees on my first bill were really high:

Activation Fee 36.00
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge 1.25
City Utility Users Surcharge 12.96
Federal Universal Service Charge 5.15
TOTAL CREDITS, ADJUSTMENTS & OTHER CHARGES $55.36
Government Fees & Taxes
COUNTY 911 SERVICE FEE 0.50
State 911 Service Fee 0.20
State Sales Tax 14.03
City Sales Tax 5.10
TOTAL GOVERNMENT FEES & TAXES $19.83

TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $236.67

That's what the proration and activation fee gets ya. Ouch.

[vega07]

I'm not sure what you mean by fraudulent.. the only charge that's on your bill that the cellular companies are keeping is the regulatory recovery cost fee. That's a fee that the companies can levy against customers to offset the cost of implimenting goverment programs (like number portability). MIne shows as $1.25.

Everything else is a passthrough... so if you don't like it, take it up with the government.

(for the record, the taxes/fees on my first bill were really high:

Activation Fee 36.00
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge 1.25
City Utility Users Surcharge 12.96
Federal Universal Service Charge 5.15
TOTAL CREDITS, ADJUSTMENTS & OTHER CHARGES $55.36
Government Fees & Taxes
COUNTY 911 SERVICE FEE 0.50
State 911 Service Fee 0.20
State Sales Tax 14.03
City Sales Tax 5.10
TOTAL GOVERNMENT FEES & TAXES $19.83

TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $236.67

That's what the proration and activation fee gets ya. Ouch.

those are some crazy charges right there. I have definitely never heard of "City Utility Users Surcharge." Which city do you live in?

I somewhat jokingly say fraudulent because I was never bombarded with these fees with t-mo. so I can tell you that some of these charges have nothing to do with the government and are labeled as so, so we, consumers, won't argue. they're just means for at&t to rob us of more of our money.

[mkrishnan]

City Utility Users Surcharge 12.96
State Sales Tax 14.03
City Sales Tax 5.10


This is a pro-rate bill, correct, meaning that all these surcharges are for a longer period than one month? So basically, though, it seems like most of the variance between your charges and mine stem from these three things. Again, I'm fairly sure these all tie to the area code the phone number has, and not your billing address. For instance, Illinois has a high sales tax and Chicago has City Sales Tax, but they are not reflected on my bill (but rather the lower state sales tax in MI and the lack of a city sales tax outside of the actual city limits of Detroit, as 248 is a suburban number).

I dunno about the city utility surcharge... like you surmise, it's almost certainly just your city governance and there's nothing sensible you can do about it. The taxes are obviously dependent on where you live, as some states don't even have sales tax, and some have very high sales tax and also levy city sales taxes....

[ottergal]

those are some crazy charges right there. I have definitely never heard of "City Utility Users Surcharge." Which city do you live in?

I somewhat jokingly say fraudulent because I was never bombarded with these fees with t-mo. so I can tell you that some of these charges have nothing to do with the government and are labeled as so, so we, consumers, won't argue. they're just means for at&t to rob us of more of our money.

I'm in Seattle (with a Bellevue number and billing address), so yes, your mileage may vary. ;) I used to be with TMO, too, and the only different line on my TMO bill was that there was a line designating "local sales tax" and it looks like AT&T might split that out differently. I used to work in cellular billing, and I know that everything that's on that bill (other than that recovery fee) is something that is passed through and remitted to a government agency. Yes, the fees are high, but that's not where cellular companies are making their money.

(found an old TMobile bill.. they charged for

Federal Universal Service Fund
State Sales Tax
City Utility Users Tax
Local Sales Tax
State 911
County 911
Regulatory program fee (their sneaky one)


And mkrishnan: yes, this was my first bill and was a good 7 weeks of service charges. So I'm not freaked out, it's what it is. :)

[theappleguy24]

Same here. I live in Laguna Hills. I only pay $4.45 in taxes.

This is what i want to know is that on your first bill after you got the iphone, was the taxes and all that higher than usual? Cause if thats the case and it drops back down to around $4 something, I am ok with that.

[Cynicalone]

You mean to say that "other charges, fees & taxes" are all lumped together into a single line item with no further details or explanations? I'd find it insulting if any contractor tried to pass that kind of "detail" off on an invoice to me.

I suggest you get on the line with customer service and persist until you find out the exact name and purpose of each and every fee and service charge that's being applied to your account.

They are broke down in detail on the full bill, I was just trying to give the OP an idea of what my Taxes and such are every month. Sorry for the confusion, just trying to give some more info.

[Cynicalone]

Here is a more detailed break down of my fee's...

iPhone 3G w/900 anytime minutes and unlimited texting

Credits, Adjustments & Other Charges
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge $0.20
Federal Universal Service Charge $2.45
Oklahoma Universal Service $0.35

Total Credit, Adjustments & Other Charges
911 Service Fee $0.50
State Sales Tax $4.96
County Sales Tax $1.12
City Sales Tax $3.31

[theappleguy24]

Here is a more detailed break down of my fee's...

iPhone 3G w/900 anytime minutes and unlimited texting

Credits, Adjustments & Other Charges
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge $0.20
Federal Universal Service Charge $2.45
Oklahoma Universal Service $0.35

Total Credit, Adjustments & Other Charges
911 Service Fee $0.50
State Sales Tax $4.96
County Sales Tax $1.12
City Sales Tax $3.31


See thats like a lot in taxes.

Mine is like this

Where I got that information was in the online att account. I went to view profile>user information>Customer Service summary.

My contract is till 8/22 2010

It gives a estimated summary on credits adjustments and other charges:

Regulatory coast recovery charge: .43 Cents
Federal universal service fund: $2.74
Other Att surcharges: .16
State and local Tax: $12.19
911 fee: $3.30

total: $15.49


My first bill has not arrived yet but thats what it says on the estimated total on the bottom.

I am paying for 39.99 for the voice, $15 for text, and $30 for the data service plan which is $85 total. The $15.49 tax brings it to $105. I also have a 22% discount I get with them(been with att for 8 years now) but that does not show on the estimate. I have a friend who has this exact plan and pays around $90 without the discount and only $4 something for his taxes.

[vega07]

Here is a more detailed break down of my fee's...

iPhone 3G w/900 anytime minutes and unlimited texting

Credits, Adjustments & Other Charges
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge $0.20
Federal Universal Service Charge $2.45
Oklahoma Universal Service $0.35

Total Credit, Adjustments & Other Charges
911 Service Fee $0.50
State Sales Tax $4.96
County Sales Tax $1.12
City Sales Tax $3.31

that's around 13 bucks in taxes...

to me, that's a lot. but maybe it's acceptable because you have the 900 plan and unlimited texting.

[theappleguy24]

i'm live in orange county and for the base everything plan with $5 text option i paid $4.45 in taxes and stuff. i don't know why you're getting charged $15-16.

Can you please post a breakdown of what you pay on your bill for local and gov taxes?

[Cynicalone]

911 fee: $3.30

:eek:

That is terrible, $2.80 more than my 911 service?!? What is that? Premium 911? :eek:

[vega07]

:eek:

That is terrible, $2.80 more than my 911 service?!? What is that? Premium 911? :eek:

I know...ridiculous huh?

[BLACK MAC]

If your city has a utility tax that may be way the cost is so high? That's why certain cities have diffrent rates?

[rburly]

I see this was a problem last August, and only did a search for County taxes. But I got my first "real" bill yesterday and I expected it to be $85 as I was told in the AT&T store.

I opened the bill and it's $100. The rest (from the $85) is County taxes. Do others have these outrageous amount on a monthly basis?

I've used a PAYG until I got my iPhone at Christmas. I know I don't pay as much as some people, but $15 in County taxes?! :eek: