Posted on 05/28/2015 9:34:31 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The head of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing that the government agency expand a phone subsidy program for the poor to include Internet access.
The FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, has emphasized that Internet access is a critical component of modern life, key education, communication and finding a keeping a job.
With the net neutrality rules released earlier this year, the agency redefined broadband as a public utility, like the telephone, giving it stricter oversight on how online content gets to consumers. That triggered lawsuits from Internet service providers.
The proposal Thursday to expand the Lifeline phone program to Internet service aims to narrow the “digital divide”—those with access to the Internet and other modern technologies and those without. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
And who pays for this? Or should I even ask?
If you like your internet, you can keep your internet.....
Such a legacy.
The poor already have free internet. Just go to any library.
More damned fees on your telephone bill:
Here’s my most recent bill:
Regulatory ARC Fee - single $1.50
Universal Service Fund $1.39
Fed ACS Single Line $$6.50
Georgia Relay Service Fund $0.11
E911 My county $1.50
Federal Tax $0.64
State Tax $0.78
Count Tax $0.59
GA Universal Service Fund $0.57
Internet Regulatory Fee $0.90
Why can’t they just call this what it is.
State, County, Federal Universal Leech Tax.
I thought they were already sucking up free wifi at every hotspot they can find on their obamaphones.
That stigmatizes them and damages their little psyches, plus it upsets them to get up early enough to get on one.
Computers and free internet service are available at almost any public library in the United States. Most libraries are open nights and weekends for the convenience of working people, in addition to daytime hours. Libraries also provide printers and copiers at no or low cost. In effect, free internet service is already being provided to the poor.
Visit a public library and talk to a librarian about how the urban poor use their free library. At opening non working males file into the library and sit down at computers. Immediately they surf to porn sites. Even though the library employs software to prevent access to porn sites, these unemployed poor men lacking job skills have the knowledge to defeat the blocking
software. During the day the mostly female library staff spends monitoring the offenders and kicking them off the computers. In doing so they are subjected to a hateful and vulgar diatribe from the “patron” which would normally be considered sexual harassment and hate speech by leftists in other settings. In this case the leftists in the government bureaucracy condone the behavior.
Perhaps an unintended benefit to providing the urban poor with computers and free internet at home will be improving conditions at public libraries for other citizens.
My area had a weather-related late afternoon six-hour power-outage a couple of years ago. I sat on my couch and played/practiced my guitar for all six hours. What a great day/early evening -- especially playing in the dark by candle light after the sun went down.
But normally I am permanently attached to my smart phone -- not because I am communicating with anyone, but because it lets me be pretty much always on FR -- to which I am addicted.
me too lol
How about mandating that telecom companies have to provide at LEAST DSL to people? I live in a rural community with lots of expensive homes (mines the cheapest in the neighborhood, thankfully). I can’t get cable internet, I can’t get fiber (plus it’s too expensive), and just about everyone I know has quit offering dial-up, cell phones work great - in PARTS of the house, and horrible in the others (tree lines and RF deck plating in the roof for heat avoidance is what I’m blaming). There are over 100 houses - many of which would sign up for DSL, and the telecom companies are yanking DSLAMS out of the cities, because they’re going to other technologies. Just put in a freaking DSLAM Verizon!
So you’re calling for double regulation. Most likely the reason there isn’t any DSL in these as-mentioned “rural communities” is because of federal regulation in the first place.
Thanks for noticing that :-) Honestly, I’d like for there to be competition. Just like in the Cable ISP world (or used to be, way back in the 1999-2003 time frame I worked for one), we had to allow other companies to use our cables, our equipment, even our upstream bandwidth, to offer “other” ISP services. We were Roadrunner, but offered STIC.net (South Texas Internet Connection), and two or three others, based on an account code that gave them specific IP address ranges. Of course, I configured the DHCP server to understand those codes, and monitored, installed, managed, repaired and replaced the networking equipment (from the head end out only, no set top boxes, thanksfully).
Honestly, a little telecom competition - instead of being locked into VERIZON, and VERIZON only (who’s head end is just over 1 mile from my house), and I guarantee someone would install DSLAM, or other high speed equipment to leverage them as better than the other guy.
I bet I’d pay a LOT less for telephone and internet than I do today (satellite ISP)
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