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FCC votes to subsidize broadband connections for low-income households
BetaNews ^ | June 18, 2015 | Mark Wilson

Posted on 06/18/2015 9:55:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Today the FCC voted in favor of updating its Lifeline program to include broadband. This would mean that households surviving on low incomes would be able to receive help paying for a broadband connection. It might not be as important as electricity or water, but having a broadband connection is seen as being all but essential these days.

From helping with education and job hunting, to allowing for home working, the ability to get online is seen as so vital by some that there have been calls for it to be classed as a utility. The Lifeline program has been running since the 80s, and originally provided financial help to those struggling to pay for a phone line. It was expanded in 2008 to include wireless providers, and it is hoped that this third expansion will help more people to get online.

Announcing the decision to modernize the program, the FCC points out that less than half (48 percent) of households with an income under $25,000 had an internet connection at home. While it could be argued that internet access is possible through smartphones, the commission reveals that half of low income consumers have their mobile connections suspended or cancelled due to financial difficulties.

Broadband has become essential to participation in modern society, offering access to jobs, education, health care, government services and opportunity. Unfortunately, income remains a significant barrier to broadband adoption.

The broadband subsidy would remain at $9.25 and there are plans to "reduce waste, fraud and abuse". A third party would be used to verify the eligibility of households, and it would be required to retain documentation to allow for easier auditing. This would help to take pressure off ISPs, something that could be improved further by the use of subsidies being delivered directly to customers through the use of vouchers.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Government
KEYWORDS: broadband; electricity; fcc; freestuff; internet; obamanet; water
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Don’t they already pay for this with their EBT cards?


21 posted on 06/18/2015 10:57:59 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: TheZMan

LOL! Finding A job. Uh, not on their agenda. Gotta run down and get my ebt card.


22 posted on 06/19/2015 12:29:07 AM PDT by rktman (Served in the Navy to protect the rights of those that want to take some of mine away. Odd, eh?)
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To: stylin19a

Yep......if you had a second phone line in your house you paid a penalty fee. If you look at the extra fees on your phone you can’t even fathom what they are. My last phone bill had 11 categories of fees and taxes.


23 posted on 06/19/2015 2:23:39 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: __rvx86

The US Government wants to eliminate landlines. Taxing them to extinction is a way to eliminate choice.


24 posted on 06/19/2015 2:39:13 AM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftist totalitarian fascism is on the move.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No. These parasites have no right to use our money to pay for their Obamaphones, Obamacare, and now ObamaInternet. Welfare should be short-term, it should focus on bridging a temporary gap until the unfortunate person can find any work, and it should provide only an absolute minimum of benefits. I’ve used library Internet, when necessary, and it works without welfare. It’s just less convenient.


25 posted on 06/19/2015 3:21:35 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Without the broadband fiber the big screen TV don’t work right...


26 posted on 06/19/2015 4:23:56 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Administrative agencies imposing taxation (in any guise) is tyranny.


27 posted on 06/19/2015 5:43:15 AM PDT by Ray76 (Obama says, "Unlike my mum, Ruth has all the documents needed to prove who Mark's father was.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Tag line...what else to say?


28 posted on 06/19/2015 5:44:38 AM PDT by ThePatriotsFlag ( Anything FREELY-GIVEN by the government was TAKEN from someone else!)
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To: RginTN

that’s why we have libraries!


29 posted on 06/19/2015 6:31:31 AM PDT by TurboZamboni (Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.-JFK)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When I was a supervisor at a Dallas area unemployment office we were giving away nice laptops with complete software and one year of free Internet access to welfare recipients. That was almost 10 years ago.
************
How much would they pawn for?


30 posted on 06/19/2015 8:13:24 AM PDT by Neidermeyer ("Our courts should not be collection agencies for crooks." — John Waihee, Governor of Hawaii, 1986-)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well here we go. A computer in every pot.


31 posted on 06/19/2015 8:36:18 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

SINCE WHEN CAN A GOVERNMENT AGENCY TAX WE THE PEOPLE...???
the EPA, DOT, Interior, DOE and Education
are ALL UNCONSTITUTIONAL
and the repubs should not fund them...
POWER OF THE PURSE RESTS WITH THE HOUSE AND ONLY THE HOUSE
comeon ohner flex your nuts if you have any...


32 posted on 06/19/2015 8:56:41 AM PDT by zzwhale
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To: Chickensoup

This wasn’t my landline phone bill. I don’t even have a landline.

I get my phone and Internet from VoiceStream/T-Mobile. $90 for two lines.

(The equivalent package from the cable company would cost double.

Southwestern Bell cannot offer high-speed Internet since the local loop in my town is still analogue—this part of town is served by a No 1A ESS—electronic, but switches an ANALOGUE phone line)


33 posted on 06/19/2015 5:08:49 PM PDT by __rvx86 (Ted Cruz: Strike two.)
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