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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: 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.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(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.