A government surcharge on dsl was eliminated as of August 14. Coincidentally, Verizon has instituted a new surcharge of their own that is almost equal to the amount of the former government surcharge.

Bobby Henson, a Verizon spokeswoman, cited “new costs that we’ve developed over the past year as we’ve been developing and delivering this stand-alone DSL service. That service doesn’t have the benefit of the revenue that was coming in from voice.”

… Henson said the decision to impose the new surcharge now “is not related at all to USF.” She said she “would strongly disagree” with criticisms that Verizon was in effect diverting to its own coffers money that had previously supported the Universal Service Fund.

If this is true, then Verizon should just raise the price of their service to reflect the increase in costs. Hiding those costs in a surcharge is deceptive at best.

Quote is from a Buffalo News article.