Understanding Your Bill

General: While the fees and taxes are primarily mandated regulatory fees, you do receive benefits from the participation in them such as, lower fees, infrastructure use, and emergency services.

Access Residential Charge— Covering your use of Endeavor’s local network is the Access Residential Charge. A consumer must pay this fee to receive a dial tone.  

Interstate Access— Getting reliable networks across state boundaries built & maintained is supported by the Interstate Access fee. It is a mandated charge by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to all telephone companies to recover construction & maintenance costs for interstate networks.

Intrastate Access—Building costs for improving and maintaining telephone networks within Indiana are Mandated by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to recover costs for construction & maintenance of intrastate telephone networks (within Indiana).

Federal Universal Service Fee (FUSC)—Keeping your rates affordable is the aim of this (FCC) national program to minimize the rates in high cost areas. Federal law requires phone companies to contribute to this fund, which helps provide affordable telephone service to low-income and rural customers. It also helps fund high-speed Internet access for eligible schools, libraries and rural health care providers. 

Indiana Universal Service Fee (IN-USF)— Currently covers high-cost support used to help keep telephone service affordable in rural areas. Everyone whether in a remote area or large city should receive comparable services at comparable prices is the aim of this program.

Telephone/telecom relay chargeYour fee aids in providing telephone service for people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech
impaired. This surcharge supports the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation (InTRAC) a
not-for-profit corporation. This state-mandated fee helps provide telephone service to consumers with speech and hearing impairments. 

E911—Your 911 statewide service fee is charged to a landline, lifeline, VoIP, or wireless device, you are ensured of these emergency services. Indiana law requires customers to pay a fee to support their local emergency systems. The monthly fee is currently set at $1.00.

Cost Recovery Fees—Fees levied to offset service obligations required by voice companies.

Data and Optional Features— Charges for data and optional services are not regulated in Indiana, including voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling, Internet access and inside wire maintenance plans. (But many wireless and VoIP providers include some of these options in service bundles or packages without separately stated charges. Rates for pay-per-use services such as automatic callback (*69) and directory assistance (411) are also unregulated in Indiana.

Local Number Portability (LNP)— LNP lets a consumer keep his or her phone number when switching to a new service provider. Companies may assess fees to all consumers in an affected area to recover equipment upgrade costs to provide LNP.

Federal TaxesThe 3 percent federal excise tax can only apply to stand-alone local landline service charges. This tax no longer applies to long distance services.

State TaxesState sales tax is 7 percent in Indiana and does not vary among companies.

Subscriber line charges—Local landline telephone service providers can charge consumers monthly fees to recover part of the cost of providing long distance access over local phone lines. Some companies refer to these charges as “common line” or “end user common line” charges.

Your first bill may appear to be higher than the average monthly bill because it includes a one-
month advance and proration for services up to the beginning of your bill cycle. It might also
include a one-time installation or account activity fee if applicable.

Adjustments to your account for adding new or removing services change the amount your 1stbill after the change.

Protecting your sensitive information is important to us. Since we record your calls, we can’t
take bank information over the phone. You have several other options to pay on your self-serve
SmartHub account or app.

Any change in service means that we must act on your behalf that isn’t a normal part of our
servicing of your account.

If you downgrade to a lower speed or do not complete your contract you are subject to extra
charges.

Removing long distance calls from your account does not incur a fee.

Bundling contracts offer customers lower rates on services over a period. Should you cancel
services during the contract period then the early term fee covers the expenses incurred by Endeavor.