Shocker: More Than Half The Money Paid Into High Cost Universal Service Fund Not Going To Provide Universal Service
from the how-do-you-spell-boondoggle? dept
For years, we've pointed out that the "Universal Service Fund," is a huge boondoggle. Basically, we all pay a tax on our phone bills that's supposed to go towards this "universal service fund," which telcos are supposed to use to provide phone service to rural areas. But, as we've been pointing out for over a decade there's little evidence that's what happens. There's almost no oversight of the program, and there are many stories of waste and abuse. The latest, in a long line, is that 59 cents of every dollar that goes to the big telcos from this USF... does not go towards universal service. Instead, the telcos just take that money and do other stuff with it. So, basically, this is a way for the telcos to hide much higher rates through a bogus government "tax," that isn't used for its expressed purpose. That seems like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.
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Filed Under: boondoggle, telcos, universal service fund
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USF to change to provide Internet
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Rural Areas?
Where do you expect the money to come from? Their own corporate coffers? Pshaw!
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Re: USF to change to provide Internet
Just globally replace "phone service" with Internet Access". The article then becomes a forecast rather than a retrospective.
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Re: Rural Areas?
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Re: Re: Rural Areas?
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Re: USF to change to provide Internet
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Re: Rural Areas?
Simply put: DON'T GIVE THE MONEY TO PRIVATE COMPANIES! It's time for the government to do the building up of the internet backbones ourselves and then lease out access to these companies.
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Gov't Control?
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Re: Gov't Control?
I think there are more serious problems than this, but this should be outright illegal.
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Re: Gov't Control?
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Uh, the USPS has a whole world of responsibilities that private companies do not. Coupled with the fact that their prime service (mail delivery) is being usurped by another entity (the internet), it's quite hard to run a service with a mandated price structure.
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If the USPS were run like a business, it would charge you based on where you are sending something, AND it wouldn't send things to quite a few places at all simply because it wasn't economical.
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Either you have universal service or you don't. The private sector does not provide universal service unless forced; i.e. cable franchises.
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Re: Gov't Control?
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Re: Re: Gov't Control?
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Re: Re: Rural Areas?
Yes, because the government never funnels money meant for something good into the general funds and blows it on other crap. Social Security... Medicare... Pensions....
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USF pays for important things...
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Re: Re: Gov't Control?
It's much easier for the USPS to deliver mail to you when they are delivering it to your neighbors as well. It's hard for them to deliver it to your neighbors if your neighbors aren't home or if they have to knock on a door every time they need to deliver mail, in opposed to simply dropping it in your mailbox.
One would have to compare U.S. mail delivery systems to mail delivery systems in other countries. From what I hear, even in China the mail delivery system is much better.
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Re: Re: Re: Gov't Control?
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It's also worth noting that, from what I read, all of the mail delivery innovations (ie: electronic tracking) were developed by the private sector and copied by the USPS (so much for patents protecting those who actually innovate). The USPS hasn't innovated at all, they have no incentive to, the government gives them such a huge government imposed advantage that they don't feel the need to innovate.
Those who compete on a level playing field always have incentive to innovate and advance themselves because if they don't they know that their competitors will eat them alive. Those who benefit from a govt imposed competitive advantage hardly ever innovate, why should they?
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Re: Re: Rural Areas?
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Telco crooks
I was told it was required by the FCC, by a telco call center supervisor. The fee was intended to help mom and pop telco's who had to connect to big telco lines. The only thing the FCC stipulated is the fee limit of $6.50. Of course the fee was $6.50.
A small thing but when added to the billions of tax payer dollars pocketed by these thieves that were provided for broadband service expansion it's very annoying.
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