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Wireless Providers to Pay Universal Service Fees?
andyo writes "Mailing lists are abuzz with the news that
wireless Internet providers may have to pay fees to support plain old telephone service.
My own perspective is at the O'Reilly Network." The Universal Service Fees are taxes set up long ago to assure that telephone service was provided to everyone, even people who it would normally be uneconomical to serve. The theory is a good one, the execution maybe not. (Maybe if the fees went towards Universal Broadband?)
too late for FP or what ?
I met her in a gay bar dead all over;
I can still recall the hearing aid she wore;
She was drinkin' Dr. Pepper with a wetback,
and I knew it was a raven, nothing more;
Her rabbi said I'd warp her mind forever;
She said to me that Nixon didn't lie;
But who'd have thought she'd freak out at her health club;
I never had the chance to say goodbye.
old enough to set the table, old enough to pass the meat
fuck you all, linux sucks for everything graphics.
GTK, QT - they all suck
Niggers Are Disgusting. Thanks, that is all.
The world will be a better place.... Yea Right. If this piece of technology has finally moved from a privlege, to a right, well. Maybe this says something about how badly we need to be connected.
What, me worry?
The Universal Service Fees are taxes set up long ago...
Which means, they'll get another looking at, now that everything is going wireless. I don't anticipate this being a giant deal for a long time...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Want to Subsidize an ILEC? By Dana Blankenhorn ISPworld News The most important rulings in the history of ILEC-CLEC warfare are about to be made, and so far the FCC hasn't heard from you on it. The rulings are FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making in CC Docket No. 02-33 (NPRM 02-33), and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in CC Docket No. 96-45 (FNPRM 96-45). The first would extend charges under the Universal Service Fee (USF) to wireless ISPs, including Wi-Fi operators in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band. The second would change the way the USF is calculated, switching from a charge based on users to one based on bandwidth. The result would be a tax on broadband users, all broadband users, and this money would go directly to your ILEC competitors. That's because the rules under which the USF is disbursed mandate that they go to incumbent carriers if those carriers can, and agree to provide service. The carriers also get money directly for managing the fund - some are accused of putting 10% of the money directly into their own bank accounts, and keeping it there. Wi-Fi visionary Dave Hughes says he's amazed that no WISPs "filed ANYTHING on the FCC Web site against the FCC's 'proposed' forcing all telecommunications 'last mile' deliverers - DSL, Cable AND Wireless, whether no-license or licensed TO PAY INTO THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND!" It's not just the money. "You want to now be subject to Federal forms, collections, and Audits in your little WISP operation?" This can be a huge amount of paperwork, maybe 2-3 days of an employee's time per month, and could easily turn your simple ISP service bills into a bunch of "junk fees" just like phone bills. Hughes has been around this track before. The best-known USF service is the "e-rate" subsidy, aimed at putting Internet access into schools. "Had the schools been able to use e-rate USF funds to BUY wireless equipment that could connect up their various cross-town schools together, then you wireless resellers could have supplied - on a one time purchase and installation basis - about 90% of ALL 16,000 school districts with internal zero-monthly-cost broadband connectivity." ILEC greed now means there are $4.75 billion in requests for e-rate funds, but only $2.25 billion available. All this means that right now you need to click on this link -- http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi. Type 02-33 under Proceedings, in the upper-left corner, to read the comments that have come in so far. You can also download the proceeding's text, so you'll know what you're talking about. (Take special note of Section IV (starts on page 36, or Paragraph 79 about "Other Broadband Platforms"). Next, click on http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi, fill in the form, then either type or upload your comments. Make them civil, make them to the point, and concentrate on how much further that money would go if it weren't under ILEC mismanagement. (The same procedure will let you comment on 96-45.) Do it now. You have until May 3 but if you leave this page you might forget. Do it now, and urge your largest customers to do it as well.
Do you know where Trey is?
BRIDGEPORT -- A 75-year-old city man was arrested Wednesday on charges of impregnating a 10-year-old girl he met at his senior center.
Jimmy Kave, of Harborview Towers, admitted having sex on several occasions with the girl, but claimed she had enticed him, police said. He surrendered to police after being told there was a warrant for his arrest.
The girl, now 11, is six months pregnant. The state Department of Children and Families has taken custody of the girl from her mother. The pre-teen reportedly intends to have the baby.
Kave is charged with six counts of first-degree sexual assault, eight counts of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. He met the girl, her mother claims, through an "Adopt-a-Godfather" program at the housing complex.
Another bizarre aspect of the case is that neither her doctor nor the Summit Women's Medical Center allegedly reported the assault to police. Kave's arrest came after the mother complained directly to police.
Wednesday afternoon, Kave, wearing an emergency alert device around his neck, was led into Superior Court on Golden Hill Street in handcuffs and leg shackles.
He mumbled something incoherent as he stood before Judge Thomas Upson.
Assistant State's Attorney Nicholas Bove, describing the horrendous nature of the allegations, urged Upson to order Kave held on $1 million bond. He said Kave has an extensive prior criminal record, including a 1984 conviction for sexual assault in New Haven.
But Kave's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Linda Denholtz, said Kave has children and grandchildren living in the area and is not a risk for flight.
Bove set Kave's bond at $500,000 and continued the case for arraignment April 30 in the Main Street courthouse. Kave was sent to the North Avenue state jail, unable to make bond.
If convicted on all charges, Kave could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.
Kave is accused of sexually assaulting the girl numerous times beginning in January 2001.
According to police Detective Benedetto Cortina Jr., the girl's mother complained on March 22 to police that her daughter was pregnant and Kave is the father.
The mother told police her daughter met Kave through an "Adopt-a-Godfather" program at Harborview Towers, a Bridgeport Housing Authority complex for senior citizens at 376 East Washington Ave. She said her daughter would visit Kave at his apartment, and they would play games and go places together.
Millie Morales, Harborview's assistant manager, said she was aware of the circumstances of the crime, but couldn't comment. She said she knew nothing about any program there matching seniors with children.
On March 14, the girl's mother took her to Dr. Mukesh Shah's office on Main Street, Cortina said. An examination determined the girl was pregnant, he said, and the doctor advised the girl to go to the Summit Women's Medical Center.
The girl was examined at the abortion clinic, but she decided to go forward with the pregnancy. Neither Shah nor Summit officials reported the girl's assault to police, according to police records.
Cortina said the girl later told him that Kave at first had touched her body under her clothing. Later, when she fell asleep in his apartment, she awakened to find Kave on top of her, having sexual intercourse with her. She said he told her not to tell anyone or she wouldn't be allowed to visit him anymore.
Cortina said Kave came to police headquarters on April 9 and gave a statement. He said he never forced the girl to have sex with him. Instead, he said he bought her clothes and gifts, and she repaid him with sex.
Last Christmas Eve, Kave told police, they returned to his apartment after buying about $100 worth of clothing for the girl. He said once they got home the girl approached him and began touching him in a sexual manner. This led to intercourse, according to his statement.
Cortina said Kave told him that, if he were allowed, he would support the girl and their child. "He said his door is always open for the victim," the prosecutor said.
Daniel Tepfer, who covers state courts and law enforcement issues, can be reached at 330-6308.
old enough to set the table, old enough to pass the meat
wireless internet access should not qualify as on this tax. the tax is simply designed by some over-concerned liberal who wanted to make sure everyone had plain old telephone service. while a telephone could be construed as a nessecity in this day and age, a wireless internet connection cannot (even tho i am sure 90% of /.ers cant live without their net connection.
Email me and tell me what you think of widening!
The local phone service I get (through my cable provider) comes with a bill broken out according to every mandatory fee and tax, and the mandatory fees and taxes are larger then the phone service cost itself.
Whatever they may be for, the combination of added fees and taxes on phone service is exhorbitant already. Adding them to other net services is just another revenue stream for someone else.
Phbbbbbt!
Soli Deo Gloria
Unfortunately, this seems to be an old regulation that did its job and then was never updated for how the telco's work now. Nothing new -- we have seen these examples for years now. Update the regulations and make them work for what goes on today and possible tomorrow....
...we are from the government - we are here to help...
So here I am once more in the playground of the broken hearts
One more experience, one more entry in a diary, self-penned
Yet another emotional suicide overdosed on sentiment and pride
Too late to say I love you, too late to re-stage the play
Abandoning the relics in my playground of yesterday
I'm losing on the swings, I'm losing on the roundabouts
I'm losing on the swings, I'm losing on the roundabouts
Too much, too soon, too far to go, too late to play, the game is over
T the game is over
So here I am once more in the playground of the broken heart
I'm losing on the swings, losing on the roundabouts, the game is over, over
Yet another emotional suicide overdosed on sentiment and pride
I'm losing on the swings, losing on the roundabouts, the game is over
Too late to say I love you, too late to re-stage the play
The game is over
I act the role in classic style of a martyr carved with twisted smile
To bleed the lyric for this song to write the rites to right my wrongs
An epitaph to a broken dream to exercise this silent scream
A scream that's borne from sorrow
I never did write that love song, the words just never seemed to flow
Now sad in reflection did I gaze through perfection
And examine the shadows on the other side of the morning
And examine the shadows on the other side of mourning
Promised wedding now a wake
The fool escaped from paradise will look over his shoulder and cry
Sit and chew on daffodils and struggle to answer why?
As you grow up and leave the playground
Where you kissed your prince and found your frog
Remember the jester that showed you tears, the script for tears
So I'll hold our peace forever when you wear your bridal gown
In the silence of my shame the mute that sang the sirens' song
Has gone solo in the game, I've gone solo in the game
But the game is over
Can you still say you love me
that taxation with representation isn't so hot, either.
Actually, it's worse than that. This is another form of taxing the unrepresented, since WISPs are unlikely to get the ear of Congress for a redress of grievances, when compared to the telcos who can spit out large amounts of bribes...er, subsidies...er, direct democracy to the Reps and Senators.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
I'd say this could be a good thing. Hell, I don't even have a land line anymore! When I did, the costs of the fees and taxes simply made a cell phone much more affordable. If there's a fee on cell's now, that might not be true anymore.
My gosh... These things are just simply insane to me..
This is simple economics....
There is a market for DSL, wireless, and Cable. The government does not need to stick their foot into this market to make it work. As Adam Smith said, the 'invisible hand' will give these people their last mile connectivity.
By forcing them to move into market that is not profitable you are simply going to increase the price so that the people that you are trying to help aren't going to be able to afford it. (Not to mention the fact that everyone is at a net loss because of the added tax)
It IS NOT, repeat IS NOT governments job to force the economy into any position what so ever. If a company can figure out how to make these connections profitable they will, thanks to the 'invisible hand', and the company wins, the consumer wins, the economy wins, and it was all done without a negative effect. So how simple that works.
Welcome to the world of common sense and Austrian/Mises Economics
I was reading the other day that during disasters email tends to work a lot better than the phone. In Bellevue Washington, they're talking about deploying wireless devices to disaster workers. Here's the article:
http://www.komotv.com/news/story_m.asp?ID=17879
I can't help but think that this would be a better service to keep running than POTS with the money. Text messages are so much easier to get through than voice.
"Derp de derp."
If you read the constitution, there is nothing in there about the federal government having the right to govern communication in any way (the entire point of the FCC). However, there *is* a statement that any function not delineated as an area of federal authority will be the in the jurisdiction of the states. It is unconstitutional for the federal government to mandate such charges.
So here I am once more in the playground of the broken hearts
That is, you are such a loser!
To bleed the lyric for this song to write the rites to right my wrongs
I bet you got your ass kicked on a daily basis in high school.
Sit and chew on daffodils and struggle to answer why?
AARAARRGHGHGRHHG! Get your pal to fuck you in your gay ass or something. Overdose on prozac. I don't care. Just do something! You people make me sick!
Building a Latrine Human wastes cause sickness. Wastes left on the ground near a small river or lake are washed into the water. Bacteria in the wastes make that water dirty and unsafe. People who drink the water are likely to become very sick. A latrine can be built to safely remove human wastes. To make it work, you need to buy a pour-flush toilet that has a big bowl on top. It is called "pour flush" because water is poured in with the waste. The flow of the water flushes the waste away. Then you need to build the two parts of the pour-flush latrine: a pit and a toilet area. The toilet is where a person sits or stands. The pit is a hole in the ground. A pipe connects the pit with the toilet. You will want to build the latrine near your house. But be sure to place it at least fifteen meters from the water anyone uses for drinking and washing. Mark on the ground the best place for the latrine pit. Measure a square that is a little more than one meter on each side. Place sticks at each corner. Dig all the ground within this square border. Then remove the four sticks at the corners. Dig the latrine pit within the square border. Remove loose soil from the pit. Dig down about one meter and stop. Now you must test how fast the water sinks into the soil. Dig a small hole in the pit. Pour in a bucket of water. Measure the time it takes for all the water to sink into the soil. All the water must be absorbed in two minutes. If it is not, the soil is not right for a latrine. You will need to test another place. The finished pit should be at least two meters deep. Use wood to support the pit walls. The next step is to clear an area for the latrine house to shelter the toilet. Do this near the pit. Dig a hole about one meter from the pit. Place a log in the hole and fasten the pour-flush toilet bowl to it. Now attach a connection pipe from the toilet to the pit. Then build the latrine out of bamboo or wood. The pit should be covered with wood. Burlap or large leaves placed on the wood will reduce smells and flies.
Depends on where they are. Some towns are so small that simply running the wire, or even setting up high speed wireless access points, would be uneconomical unless you charged thousands of dollars for the hookup, and a hundred a month for maintenance. And satellite has latency issues.
Best Slashdot Co
Or they could just keep cutting income taxes, and then let the ball start rolling and start cutting other taxes.
BTW, don't taxes require an act of Congress to be inacted *cough CONSTITUTION cough*
Avoid The Rush, Hate OU Early!!!
You gotta imagine that the broadband ISPs aren't that psyched about this. In an economy where $40-$50 a month for an internet connection is pushing it, how about adding more taxes to the pile.
If the fee was applied to provide interner service to people who can't afford it, it would make sense. Also, it would (slightly) be an investment.
How? Well, there's an old story about how a long time ago, in a small town, there were only two phones: 001 was the Mayor's house, and 002 was the fire department. After a couple of months, the Mayor cancelled his line, since it was idiotic to pay $20 a month to be able to call just the fire department, wheter there was a fire or not.
The point being: If you have a phone, the value to you is increased as more people have one, since you have that many more potential people to contact. The same principle would apply to internet.
Sorry for the long rant. I'll shut up now.
The federal government has lots of bombs, so piss on the Constitution. They can do anything they want, and if you don't like it, MOVE TO CUBA! HAHAHAHAHA.
Visit the new Troll site!
The biggest problem with Uiniversal Service Fees is that there is no oversight with regards to how phone companies collect them. The FCC recommends rates that telephone companies should use to collect these fees (6.9187% for fourth quarter of 2001 and 6.8086% for first quarter of 2002) but allows telephone companies to set their actual percentages to anything they want. Qwest is already collecting 8.1462% from their DSL subscribers, in addition to rates collected on POTS service, not because it's mandated, but BECAUSE THEY CAN. When they collect more than they need, they pocket it rather than lower the rate. Take a look at your phone bill, people. Then call your state's utilities commission and bitch about it.
Is line of sight. Sure, they could move. But then who would grow the food? Society does benefit from their staying out there.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
What is it with you Americans?
If one's sensitive and one with his/her feelings you label him as a homosexual (as if there was something wrong with that).
I'm glad that our public schools encourage the teens to explore their own identity and do not label same-sex experimentation as a bad thing or immoral.
build a time machine and go to the past. Modern politicians use the Constitution like it was toilet paper.
I'm getting sick of this bullshit.
We are not all Republican right-wing nuts. We are not all gun-nuts. We are not all bent on bringing on the Pax Americana in the world. We are not all homophobes - some of us are actually homosexual, you know.
I don't think it's too much about the money that would be raised, since most small wireless operators are not making very much (if anything, some are free).....I see this really as a way of bringing groups like "Seattle Wireless" and others under governmental control.
By making every group subject to audits, federal fees and filings, every group can be identified and investigated as needed. That's their hook into you. Kinda like the IRS, where even if you don't make any money, you have to provide them with all of your information and "allow" them to verify it. There's no "opting-out" of the information game.
I've thought that it was just a matter of time before the government stepped in to regulate this....John Ashcroft can't have people communicating OUTSIDE the system!....How can he get Carnivore around this "wireless thing" if he can't force everyone to fill out forms and obey our regulations?
The RIAA & MPAA also can't have people communicating outside of ATT and AOL either, who would they sue in a distributed wireless city-net? They couldn't force anyone off the air through their DCMA takedown suits! Although, if you had to have a liscense.....they could take that!...and then force you off the air.....
The very idea that they would try to do this on an "unregulated" band shows what their intent is. I'd look for further attempts to limit power of WAP's, force a band change (making current units illegal by "out of band") and forcing some type of identification of base-stations. I could imagine some type of system where people would have to "activate" their base-stations by logging into the manufacturer site and giving some personal information or something like that.
The government's intent is to limit annonymous speech and communication between individuals....they can't do that if we keep jumping out of the cattle chutes that they've errected at all of the big ISP's....
If you don't think that warrants defending your natural rights by any means necessary you've already lost.
Where Is the Phone Universal TAX going ? well for a long time it was piling up , and sitting doing nothing , we are talking millions of dollars possibly billions.
.
.
This is where ERATE comes in
What is ERATE ?
ERATE is a School grant that allows the GOV to pickup the Phone and Internet Costs. Erate funding is based on the percentage of REDUCE LUNCH STUDENTS. Erate Can Cover Phone Equipment Phone Line charges, Internet Equipment, and ISP T1 charges.
One Example Is where I work at Phone charges and equipment is 100% fund from ERATE. Internet Service is Funded 70% and Cisco Equipment is funded 80%. So IF you do the numbers schools that need this equipment are now able to get kids on the internet. This Tax is needed
The rest of the world already knows that.
"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped or turned back, for their private benefit." --Robert Henlein
Whan this tax on phone service was created it was to help farmers and others get phone service. This was needed because no company would touch these areas, including Bell. This was to every one's benefit. City folk could now call their county cousins and country folk could call the fire department when their barn caught fire. Non-monopoly ag has alwaus been a very low profit proposition and it was clear that rural user could not afford the high cost of teleco infrastructure. This was also done for rural electrafication along time ago (by general fund taxes I think). If you don't think you benefit from community civil works than I suggest you move to Chad and see what it's like to live without a real government.
I grant I haven't read all of Adam Smith, but I don't recall anything about "last mile connectivity." That was a joke.
"It IS NOT, repeat IS NOT governments job to force the economy into any position what so ever. If a company can figure out how to make these connections profitable they will, thanks to the 'invisible hand', and the company wins, the consumer wins, the economy wins, and it was all done without a negative effect. So how simple that works.
The government cannot help but "force the economy." It is, after all, a huge consumer. This demand helps shape the market. Now there is of course a difference between consuming pencils and gasoline and nuclear triggers on the one hand and planning an economy on the other. But the government has a role there too. The government's job should be to serve its citizenry. If that means that markets do not operate with maximal efficiency, who cares? "The market" is just an abstract concept, a tool that helps us understand how parts of the economy function. It is not something to be a slave to.
I do not understand this obsession of deeply ideological Libertarians with the capital-M Market. It seems as though it is their deity and that cost efficiency is the only axis on which they measure morality. The logical conclusion of such single mindedness is that if one cent more wealth, in aggregate, will be created by my gutting you like a fish, I am morally obligated to do it. Obviously (I trust and hope) this isn't what Libertarians really want but the most ideological ones don't seem to have any appreciation of nuance.
If no one can figure out a way to make last mile connections profitably, no one will build them. And no amount of "leave it to the market" mantra will change that. But if people want the connection, why shouldn't the government change the regulatory environment to make it profitable for companies to do so? This is just changing the ground rules for the market. Market forces themselves still exist. Is it possible that the government will do something so stupid that they will make things much worse? Of course. But they might also be able to make the change so that the effects aren't so bad. Does that mean that some person or company will incur costs that they wouldn't have otherwise? Yes it does. But again, so what? Money is not the only value. It is merely the easiest to calculate.
Q:How many libertarians does it take to stop a Panzer division? A:None. Obviously market forces will take care of it.
Geez man my cousin lived in the downtown/inner city/ghetto area and couldn't get a phone line into his building - no one would install it.
The telephone companies coporate offices are about 10 (actually 8) blocks away. There is apartments 6 blocks away with T1 lines to the highest priced apartments.
The problem is the tax doesn't get paid back. At least the money doesn't trickle down. The problem was that he lived in a building which never had service - they refused to setup the line (drop it into the window?) without funds from the city which "weren't there".
He was willing to pay for everything except what they (the company) has to pay by law. So we collect tax and it's not even paying to get real customers! I feel sorry for people who need 911 services but can't get a phone. It's been ruled here in my city that 911 is a right because it's funded by taxes.
The problem was the pay phone was always being used by crack dealers. But for some reason it was only 20 cents so maybe it all works out?
We just figured the police paid the other 30 cents and listened in...
[the moral of this story is that sometimes taxes are good. if the funds are used right it might get people back into market (or whatever). the error isn't in the amount of taxes we take, the error is that we don't try to stretch it as far as we can. know where investments are[
Get your Unix fortune now!
(Maybe if the fees went towards Universal Broadband?)
;-)
Fine with me, as log as it didn't go to Vivendi Universal.
These days, you never know... they *do* get some dime on every cd-r, after all.
if you use a good enough junk-filter, slashdot.org will display a single, *blank*, page
The Universal Service Fee provides telecommunications and information services to schools, libraries and rural health care facilities; it also serves to subsidize local service to high cost areas and low-income households. This fee still has a purpose to provide schools with the appropriate amount of students from low income families grants to allow the purchase of technology and communication equipment and services. I know in the state of Georgia, we refer to the money we get from the USFs as "e-rate" money.
"If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet"
Isn't it "Resistere Futilis Est" ?
Most companies trey to pass costs on to their customers in some way, of course, but this is more than that. The fee actually appears as a separate item on the phone bill, and is never included in the advertised prices. Customers don't know how large it will be until they get the bill (and with a cell phone, the long contract length makes it then too late to change).
What's even worse is that many phone companies actually like to collect this tax, because a loophole in the law allows them to tack on an arbitrary collection fee (pure profit), which is not distinguished from the tax itself on the bill. This makes the tax appear to be even higher than it really is.
It's exactly the same as if the grocery store decided to charge you double sales tax, and you didn't find out about it till after you got your receipt.
Would happen a hell of a lot quicker if the entire existing body of telecomm law and regulations were just phased out completely. Slowly enough not to cause an economic collapse, that is.
The entire premise of the enabling legislation behind the FCC and state utility regulators is flawed, and stands in direct contradiction to the 1st and other amendments, and interferes with private individuals arriving at mutually beneficial arrangements.
There is a need for technical standards and spectrum allocation (actually should be sale, precisely, but that's a minor point in this context.) etc., but there is zero justification for the govt. to be regulating *wired* communications at all, data or voice.
The only ILECS behind this are the ones who've been deluded into thinking they're gonna get a cut of pay-per-view Internet TV, multicast, etc. Most of the rest realize how short sighted things like this are and what they're already losing in terms of lost sales of high-bandwidth circuits.
--rgb
First,
why do you think libs are nuts?
Yes I am libertarian. My beliefs are straightforward and consistant. YOU are responsible for your own actions. Not me, nor the government nor anyone else. That IMO is the core of the libertarian philosophy. If you are an alcoholic and drink, guess what it was YOU who did it, not the beer company etc.
Government nowadays seems to think its mission is to protect us from OURSELVES. This is contrary to the very ideal of freedom.
Actually though I do vote, I think the system is broken as it stands. If you believe that your neighbors are intelligent, and (while they may not agree on everything with you) have enough in common with your worldview, it would be better IMO to hold a draft to select representatives.....
That way you have no special interest groups aka
Disney etc giving big $$$ to congress critters for re-election campaigns.
Crazy idea? Perhaps, but remember self governement
through representative democracy was also thought of as crazy and unworkable by the aristocracy in Europe when the US was formed.
Service guarantees Citizenship! Questions Guarantee GITMO.... Amerika Uber Alles!
Universal Service Fee? Why not just call it by its true name?
Communism.
I work in telco billing software, when I work. (no I'm not particularly proud of that fact) The USF, regardless of original intentions, is a fee that telcos manipulate to charge their customers more than their published rates allow. Since it typically shows up in the "taxes" section, people are much less likely to call in and complain. Anytime the company risks complaints, it walks a fine line, because call centers are really expensive. The USF is handy, since no customer realizes when it is tweaked, even though they have to inform the regulatory agencies.
I don't usually look for idealism in any company, even a cool tech company. When I leave aside the whole cross-subsidy thing I can't help but think that the WiFi companies will do the exact same thing when they are required (allowed?) to charge the USF. Maybe that's why they haven't uttered a peep in protest.
later,
Jess
ps. This is an evil thought but ususally after "three decades", an industry no longer needs to be coddled. That only happens again much later, after about a century. Witness the U.S. steel industry.
I am programmed for etiquette, not destruction!
Last Post Bitches!
-Master Shedder