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posted by takyon on Tuesday September 04 2018, @07:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the flatline dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday September 05 2018, @01:22AM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday September 05 2018, @01:22AM (#730578)

    Reliable phone communication has taken a hit in the USA since "cord cutting" became the economically attractive thing to do. Sure, we've got cellular service wherever we go, well - 97% of the time. And that's what sucks for home service: landline voice quality and reliability has gone downhill to the point where it's no better than cell service.

    Now, as for this one "social" program, the ability to call for fire, ambulance and police services when needed does measurably impact outcomes for both life and property, dramatically positively. How many millions of households are in some way depending on this social program? And, when you cut it, how many will end up with no reliable phone service to their home? Maybe they have cellular service some of the time, maybe the coverage is weak, and maybe they can't manage the finances surrounding cellular service to give themselves working voice service to the home 24-7-365.

    Bottom line, a year after this program gets cut, there will be a list of sad stories with houses burning down, people dying, etc. that "could have been avoided if they only didn't lose their landline."

    If we want to make the US more like the 3rd world, where the rich have everything they need/want and the poor don't even have the simple stuff, this is a great step in that direction.

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