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Millions could lose cheap phone service under FCC's overhaul of Lifeline
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, wants to remove a majority of wireless providers that participate in the Lifeline program in an attempt to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse." If such a move were made, the "chaos would be magnificent," said David Dorwart, the chairman of the National Lifeline Association (NaLA), a trade organization that represents Lifeline businesses.
Roughly 10.7 million Americans receive text, voice, and data under the program, and 70 percent would have to look for a new service provider under the proposal, according to NaLA, if an affordable option is even available. The program cost about $1.3 billion dollars in 2017, and the funding comes from the Universal Service Fund, which is collected from phone subscribers by service providers.
[...] The proposal, introduced by the commission in November of 2017, would limit the Lifeline program to providers that own their networks. This would effectively eliminate "resellers," or providers who instead lease space on a network. Such providers service more than 70 percent of Lifeline participants. The program has been criticized in the past for fraud. It has been the subject of several reports from the Government Accountability Office, which highlighted "significant risks" for abuse.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by SomeGuy on Tuesday September 04 2018, @07:51PM (3 children)
The real news is proper landlines might start to look cost effective again, and oh, no we can't have that now. Sell cell phones. Sell cell phones!
And somewhere, a giant dildo shoved way up someone's ass saved their life, so everyone should have one and the government should subsidize it.
Hmm... so if they eliminate this program, the Universal Service Fund charge will go down. Right?... Right??
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 04 2018, @07:54PM
No.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 04 2018, @11:00PM (1 child)
What does a landline cost? Here in Backwoods Arkansas, it's about twenty dollars per month. And, it connects me to the world. I can call all of the same old local numbers that I could call thirty years ago, for free. I don't have a long distance carrier anymore, but I could easily get one - AT&T or whoever. Those calls cost, though.
But, the landline most certainly connects to 911. Twenty dollars per month, I have 911 services available. Not to mention, that I've had uninterrupted incoming service on that telephone for more than thirty years. Cell phones have come, and cell phones have gone. Cell phone numbers have come and gone. Cell phone carriers have come and gone. But that copper wire has provided consistent service for all of my married life!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @02:43AM
The last I was paying for landline in Southern California was $45/month. AT&T. And half of the time it didn't work. And they told me they could not fix it without
putting in a device that made it impossible to use a modem. So, I was kinda "forced" into a cellphone connection... that does not work well in my house ( too much
metal shielding ).