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ISPs must accept gov't subsidy on all plans:
Less than a year after Verizon and other ISPs forced users to switch plans in order to get government-funded discounts, a new federal program will prevent such upselling by requiring ISPs to let customers obtain subsidies on any Internet plan.
With last year's $50-per-month Emergency Broadband Benefit that was created by Congress, the Federal Communications Commission let ISPs participate in the program as long as they offered the discount on at least one service plan. The FCC said it did so to encourage participation by providers, but some major ISPs drastically limited the subsidy-eligible plans—forcing users to switch to plans that could be more expensive in order to get a temporary discount.
Congress subsequently created a replacement program that will offer $30 monthly subsidies to people with low incomes. The program also specified that ISPs "shall allow an eligible household to apply the affordable connectivity benefit to any Internet service offering of the participating provider at the same terms available to households that are not eligible households." The FCC still has to make rules for implementing the new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), but that requirement prevented the FCC from using the same one-plan rule that helped ISPs use the program as an upselling opportunity.
ISPs urged FCC to exclude "legacy" plans.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by crafoo on Wednesday January 12 2022, @01:41PM (4 children)
Just make 5Mb/s - 0.5Mb/s "free". It's enough for them to pacify their minds with porn and Netflix. Like good cattle.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday January 12 2022, @02:54PM (3 children)
Why would the ISP make that low bandwidth plan free when they could get that $30 subsidy and it still be "free" to the customer?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @03:32PM (2 children)
Just get the govt to pay $30/customer directly to the ISPs for a basic service, regulate it to prevent gouging, then the ISP is free to "innovate" for higher level service plans. I.e. start treating internet like a utility.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @11:48PM
All that would happen is that prices would rise by $30/month across the board. Telecom pricing is set by what the market can bear since there is no real competition.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 13 2022, @01:30PM
The FCC is in the back pocket of the ISPs. When the ISPs say jump the FCC asks how high.
Same with the FDA and pharma.
(Score: 2) by Revek on Wednesday January 12 2022, @01:53PM
Good, if they must accept perhaps they will come up with a sane way to get reimbursed as opposed to the shitshow that USAC is.
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(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @04:16PM (4 children)
Why should taxpayers be covering the cost of welfare recipients tweeting each other about the latest Dancing with the Stars episode? If you want Internet, get a job.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @04:55PM
Kids have remote schooling due to shutdowns and quarantines, and a lot of companies only accept job applications online. So telling someone to get a job when they don't have internet is like telling them to cook something when they don't have a stove.
If we should be angry at anyone, it's at Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, etc... taking in billions in profits for their services and shitting all over customers. I know everyone likes to say that the government fucks up everything, but America's ISPs make it crystal clear that businesses can fuck everything up too. I say internet is now as much a part of public infrastructure as roads, and should be nationalized.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday January 12 2022, @05:36PM (1 child)
If you want a job, get Internet.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @07:01PM
Invest in yourself(tm) - buy an iMac and a business degree.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @06:48PM
This is just thinly-veiled reparations, and a continuation of the Jew-orchestrated anti-White agenda.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Wednesday January 12 2022, @06:32PM
When do we turn the ISPs into common carriers?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @06:46PM
This is just more of the same from The International Jew and their Shabbos Goy race traitors. Take tax money from gullible, Jewsus and JewMurica-loving Whites and give it to "the disadvantaged". IOW, paying for the internet for anyone pitiful enough to beg for it. Niggers (Euro and Classic varieties) and Mestizo (and other) invaders. This also means everybody else that has service with the ISP probably gets to make up the difference, as the ISP probably just pockets any gov subsidy. Fuck the federal government and anyone who funds it.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 12 2022, @10:32PM
They get away with these bait-and-switch because nobody is stopping them. Break them up and put some bite back into regulations. There is no right to profit in the Constitution.