As far as the modem thing goes, probably incompetence. However, there were quite a few scams which involved adding $1 or $2 charges to the phone bills of millions of customers on the theory that most people wouldn't bother to fight it.
If I remember correctly, this is why you have a line of text on your phone bill assuring you that your phone cannot be disconnected over a billing dispute. This is probably a combination of a response to a regulatory decision over the various phone scams and the fact that you can now move to a different local carrier.
__________________
Exercise your rights and remember your obligations - VOTE!
I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. -- Barack Hussein Obama
|