Violating service agreement?

[Almeria]

I do some contract work from home. Recently it’s come to my attention that doing so is in violation of my residential service agreement. To be legal, I need to get the business plan, which is considerably more than what I’m paying now. My ISP is not aware of the violations in my usage, so it would be me choosing to be upfront with them, not them forcing compliance.

The angel on one shoulder is telling me that morally I need to get the business plan, as I am sinning in continuing to purposely (now that I know) violate my service agreement. The devil on the other shoulder is tossing up attempts at justification, like “how would they know”, and “I’d be paying more for the exact same service”, and “I make so little from the job that by switching to the business plan a good portion of my monthly wage would just be paying the ISP bill”.

I really, really dislike my contract work right now anyway. Part of me would love to use this as an excuse to stop working that job completely. My dislike for the job is coloring my moral compass on this one enough where I don’t know the answer myself. Can I get some opinions here?

 

[CatholicPoet]

If you really dislike the contract work, why continue it? Is there a reason? Are you bound by… well… contract? Is it income your household requires?

If there is no reason to continue and you can do without the income, it seems to me simply not doing future contract work would be a valid solution. (Although you might want to discuss some sort of payment for prior service rendered with your ISP.)

If there is a need to continue doing the contract work, my advice would be to contact your ISP and discuss with them the nature of the work you do and explain that it has come to your attention that it is not within the parameters of your service agreement. Then ask them what type of service agreement you might need. I am sure they will be willing to work with you.

They will probably be shocked that you have done the right thing.

 

[Almeria]

CatholicPoet:

If you really dislike the contract work, why continue it? Is there a reason? Are you bound by… well… contract? Is it income your household requires?

While the additional income would be nice, I recently got a full time job that should be sufficent to pay the bills. I have no actual contract with them; it would actually make matters much easier if I did. Why continue it? I guess deep down I must enjoy the feelings of guilt and overwhelmingness that comes from: them asking for more than what they should, me caving to their demands, then me being stressed out beyond belief trying to give them what I shouldn’t have obliged myself to in the first place. But that’s a whole 'nother can of worms.

If there is no reason to continue and you can do without the income, it seems to me simply not doing future contract work would be a valid solution. (Although you might want to discuss some sort of payment for prior service rendered with your ISP.)

If there is a need to continue doing the contract work, my advice would be to contact your ISP and discuss with them the nature of the work you do and explain that it has come to your attention that it is not within the parameters of your service agreement. Then ask them what type of service agreement you might need. I am sure they will be willing to work with you.

They will probably be shocked that you have done the right thing.

Yeah, you’re probably right. But man, it stinks that it costs so much to do the right thing.

 

[Catholic2003]

Where I live, the business plan of my ISP is based on higher levels of usage, bandwidth, transfer speed, and service. If you don’t need these higher levels, you are free to use the residential plan.