President Bush has asked for $304.1 million for the FCC during fiscal 2006. Part of the budget includes a $3.2 million cost center to pay for an audit of the agency’s Universal Service Fund. The USF was originally set up to help subsidize telephone service for low income households. Today, a large chunk of the USF helps common carriers pay for the skyrocketing cost of telecommunication infrastructures. The fund is also providing relief for rural heath care providers, schools, and libraries.
Over the years the commission has received numerous complaints related to the USF. Complaints include allegations of “false claims, failure to comply with appropriate procurement regulations and laws, conflict of interest, forgery and securities related offenses.”
My wife and I pay over six dollars per month (into the USF) through our wireline agreement with Qwest and our PCS agreement with Sprint - that’s over $70 per year, almost $400 every five years.
Questions: Is it time to take it back? Should we be paying for telephone poles in rural America? Should we subsidize Native American families (lowest subscribership levels in the U.S) so they can have access to wirelines? Should we help local libraries provide internet access to the public? Is the USF working?
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Sure we should continue to pay into the universal service fund. The newspaper may only cost a quarter per day thanks to advertising, but telecommunications, whether it's telephone or Internet service costs money. If you can afford to have your cell phones and Internet service, you can afford to chip in to a fund to help others less fortunate. If we don't the Internet will be available only to those with money...and we'll lose the wonderful democratic aspect of this new invention. For most, telephone service isn't a luxury, it's a necessity.
Government taxes often go to those who are less fortunate. Be happy you're not there!
I don't mind chipping in to help the less fortunate, but who's to say who the less fortunate is. People in rural areas? Native Americans? Lets give the rurals some money to move closer to the city. Thats cheaper than digging holes for wirelines. The Gov. should be the ones paying for the Native American's and every problem they encounter just because of the fact they put them there in the first place.
What are the costs of doing business exactly for these companies to expand into unchartered territory? Will they tell us the truth? Can anyone who is neutral to the situation give us correct qoutes on how much it costs to go out and dig holes in rural America.
There can't be that many reservations that need phone service to the point that it is costing each cell phone consumer six dollars per month for who know how long.
We can help out by chipping, but I think we're probaly footing the enitire bill for this one just like all the other costs that are associated with the Gov. and big business that are passed on to us. The back bone and drive of America.
I wish I could get just a dollar from everyone in America for the fact that I'm less fortunate. Sorry Sammy there aren't any reports that support my opinion because my opinion is whats really real.
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