Understanding Your Bill

A discount to your account, typically as part of a promotion or special pricing from Service Electric. Appears as a credit on your statement. (“CR” to the right of the price)

A fee imposed by the broadcast networks for retransmitting broadcast television signals.

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The E911 charges are imposed by state and/or local government to support the emergency response system for fire and rescue.

A fee charged to recover the costs of processing a credit card for payment of your bill.

Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs) are one-way devices that convert incoming digital signals into analog signals for television viewing. They can be used for any TV as an economical converter.

The Enhanced HD Converters are one-way devices that convert incoming digital signals into analog signals for television viewing.

A Surcharge added to all customers who have Full Basic Cable to offset increases from Networks such as Disney, Viacom, Fox and others.

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Fees collected annually by the FCC from the cable operators to reimburse the FCC for administrating its regulatory responsibilities under the Communications Act of 1934. The FCC allows cable operators to recover the fee from subscribers in twelve monthly installments.

INTERNET, CABLE, PHONE: The Federal Cost Recovery Fee covers Service Electric’s contribution to support the operation of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and certain FCC programs.

A tax levied by government on all intrastate and interstate telephone services.

The Federal Regulatory Fee is a percentage of interstate and international usage. It helps recover the amount paid to the federal government for regulatory costs and telecommunication services for the hearing-impaired.

A federal surcharge on interstate and international telephone services to recover the costs for the FUSF. This fund ensures the availability of affordable communications services to low income and rural customers, as well as, eligible schools, libraries, and health care providers.

A fee paid to a municipality to allow use of the public streets and rights-of-way and operate a cable system within that municipality. This is an agreement with the town/city and the cable provider.

The HD DVR Converters are one-way devices that convert incoming digital signals into high definition analog signals for television viewing or recording up to 2 channels at at time.

The fee for installing equipment for internet, cable or telephone.

A charge that is designed to recover local telephone companies’ costs associated with providing long distance carriers with access to local phone networks.

The modem is a piece of equipment for Internet services. The modem carries and converts the signal from the cable wire and sends it to a router.

The modem and wireless router consists of one or more pieces of equipment for Internet services. The modem carries the signal from the cable wire and the router distributes it throughout your home.

A Network Access Fee is a fee to maintain and upgrade system infrastructure, including equipment and lines needed to access the internet. This fee is discounted if you have both cable TV and Internet.

Why Does Your Internet Service Cost So Much?

History

This is a common question among Service Electric customers, especially as logic would dictate that costs should actually go down over time. However, many people don’t consider the fact that American households on average are using more than 100 times the bandwidth they did less than 10 years ago, with the popularity of streaming entertainment services, online gaming and remote work/school. In the late 90’s a T-1 line (1.544 Mbps) was typical for a business, and dial-up modems offering 28.8Kbps were common in homes.

In the early 2000’s ADSL broadband started gaining popularity and by 2010 it was common for a household to have service capable of handling faster speeds, sometimes through a dedicated phone connection or with cable. With the popularity of the Internet, infrastructure was built-out very quickly, with cable companies taking advantage of the coaxial cable already running to many households. But demand continues to require improvements in that infrastructure with fiberoptic and WiFi options to allow even faster speeds. Service Electric continues to improve on its network infrastructure to handle the speeds being demanded by our customers.

Equipment, Speed, and Fees

The cost to provide service in new areas runs high with equipment, construction, installation and technology requirements. Service Electric is dedicated to keeping up with improvements to our infrastructure so we can offer our customers fast, reliable Internet. As a relatively small, regional company we make it a priority to give our customers the best service possible.

Your bill will reflect charges including the rental of equipment, which helps us ensure that the equipment is compatible with our system and that our technicians can troubleshoot issues easily, should they arise. This also gives you the guarantee that if a piece of equipment fails, we will repair or replace it with minimal inconvenience to you.

A credit applied to your account as part of a promotion or special pricing from Service Electric.

The fee defrays regulatory costs incurred in complying with obligations and charges imposed by state commissions and municipalities.

A tax levied by state and local governments on the sale of tangible personal property and/or certain services such as telephone or cable.

INTERNET & TELEVISION – Bundled equipment package including the TiVo DVR for cable TV and the eero Whole-Home router for Internet.

The Sports Programming Surcharge reflects only a portion of the rapidly increasing charges of sports-related networks. This fee is added to the accounts of Full Basic cable customers, whose subscriptions include sports programming.

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A piece of equipment used to convert analog signals to digital.

A Pennsylvania tax levied by a state government on all intrastate and interstate telephone services.

A fee based on an assessment percentage charged by the NJ Board of Public Utilities on annual revenue. Applies to New Jersey subscribers only.

A surcharge on interstate and international telephone services to support the telephone relay system designed for deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired persons.

TiVo is a multi-tuner DVR that allows you to record up to 6 shows at once and store up to 300 HD hours. It can be paired with the TiVo mini for other TVs in the house.

TiVo Mini is a companion to (and requires) a multi-tuner TiVo DVR. Connecting TiVo Mini to another TV in the house makes it easy to access live TV, recorded shows, and web entertainment.  Learn more about TiVo.

The combination of the TiVo main unit and a TiVo Mini. The TiVo would be used on the main TV in the home while the TiVo Mini(s) would connect to other TVs in the house. Learn more about TiVo.

The eero Tru-Mesh home WiFi system is a router (with optional satellite units) that covers your entire home with fast, reliable Internet. Learn more about eero.