TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
|  Just 1 more reason to bag the USF fund for all time
The USF is rife with corruption, incompetence, & inefficiency. Even when the money makes it way to schools, libraries, etc, the money is often spent on things that had nothing to do with why the fund was created.
The fund should be abolished all together. Unfortunately, the new incoming admin plans on expanding it with the subsequent further waste of phone customers hard earned money in MORE fees.
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DataRiker
Premium
join:2002-05-19
Metairie, LA
clubs: | USF on cell phones?
Excuse my ignorance, but is there a USF charge on cell phones as well? |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
1 edit | Yes...
$1.2 billion was paid last year to cell carriers who do business in rural areas... |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Just 1 more reason to bag the USF fund for all time
Unfortunately, the new incoming admin plans on expanding it with the subsequent further waste of phone customers hard earned money in MORE fees. Expansion of the USF before reform (or elimination) has been a bi-partisan push, with support also coming from Kevin Martin and Ted Stevens. |
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cabana
now in peppermint
Assistant
join:2000-07-07
New York, NY
Host:
AT&T Southeast
56k Lookout (Broad..
| reply to Karl Bode
Re: USF on cell phones?
I would have rather seen them get community service. 18 million is NOTHING for them to pay. Each and every yo yo in on the scheme should have to go to the school they should have served with this supposed USF fund and volunteer their time and effort. Look a few kids in the eyes...   |
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nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
 ·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Just 1 more reason to bag the USF fund for all time
said by TKJunkMail  :The fund should be abolished all together. Agreed. The USF has so many things wrong with it that we should just get rid of it altogether!
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Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation |
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WiseOldNerd
De gustibus non est disputandum
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Phoenix, AZ
·Cox HSI
 ·Qwest.net
·Charter Pipeline
| Fraud What Fraud?
Karl, apparently nobody else sees the tongue in cheek humor of your comment on who is supporting USF expansion. At least both of them will be gone in the new year.
It would be nice if the new Justice Department administration launched an investigation into this disgraceful situation and really laid the phone companies up side the head with some serious penalties. I do like the idea of community service. First let them pick up litter and garbage and then wash down the streets by licking them with their long slimy tongues. 
They might include all current and former FCC members as equal participants in the conspiracy to defraud. 
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My perception is REALITY |
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rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Just 1 more reason to bag the USF fund for all time
Amazing how you and only you can write something that is correct in principle and cannot help yourself and drag politics into it thereby making a post that started out being of truth and flip it into the usual conservative hate fest, divide the country, pro corporate post we here at BBR expect from you. you really need to get a grip on reality. FYI most Americans are tired of the hate message. the new Administration is not in power yet. the economy is cratering all due to the policies of fiscal trickle down conservatism and you it appears would rather see the United States be completely destroyed rather than hope like the rest of us the new President may help the country. for one who claims to be a patriot you are very un patriotic. how can you say you're pro America and secretly hope the new President and his administration fails. |
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
1 edit | reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :The fund should be abolished all together. So, by eliminating the USF and the funding that goes to schools and libraries to provide internet and other network access, you obviously support making our schools and education system even less competitive, right? That is the only logical conclusion from your statement because you don't make an exception for funding schools and libraries.
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Drilling for more oil is akin to giving a methhead the keys to the meth lab. |
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
2 edits | The issue is not "overcharging", it's disclosure and the CSA
I had to look around a bit to find the actual issues, which are not at all how Karl frames them.
Here's a good document from which you can glean the actual issues:
»https://ecf.ksd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/sho···1468-914
In a nutshell, the lawsuit is based on the words AT&T and Sprint used to characterize the USF/UCC charges on their bills, and whether the Customer Service Agreement (CSA) was breached by those words. Is it is tax? a fee? a charge? a surcharge? Read the linked document to see highly paid lawyers make angels dance on the heads of pins over these definitions.
There really was no "overcharge" to speak of. AT&T and Sprint collected some money, and they also paid some money. They dispute exactly how to account for matching up those charges and payments. There probably was a little more coming in than going out in some periods, and a little less in others.
Note that none of this has anything whatsoever to do with the USF fund itself and its management or mismanagement. It's all about how the bills and CSA were crafted.
The outcome? The plaintiff's lawyers get millions of dollars. The customers get some token in the mail if they take the trouble to ask for it.
In the case of Sprint, it was a 100 or 250 minute long distance calling card. It'll probably be something similar for AT&T. How much benefit is that for the average consumer, who probably has an unlimited long distance plan anyway (via cell or VoIP) ??
So once again a corporation is raped by plaintiff's lawyers who pick apart bills and CSAs, make a ton of money, and consumers get basically nothing. Is this a great system or what? |
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IIyouandtwomakes
@comcast.net
| Honest Companies
It seems like EVERY day I read about SOME company being in SOME trouble for SOMETHING they've done wrong or tried to get away with.
Can't these f-in people just run a company that provides a service and just bill their customers in a normal everyday way like in years gone bye? Remember 20 years ago when you got your bills in the mail and you just paid them and all with was right with the world?
Now these damn companies are trying all kinds of different business models and trying all kinds of creative ways to steal a buck and all they do is get into trouble. Oh sure they get away with it for a while and they make huge profits but in the end they just end up getting caught by someone.
Sheesh.... get the picture you big dumb ass companies! |
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stevephl
join:2000-11-27
Colorado Springs, CO | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Just 1 more reason to bag the USF fund for all time
I agree with you 100%; with a Marxist administration about to be coroneted in January we can look forward to further expansion of wealth re-distribution programs.
Stockpiling in Colorado
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to WiseOldNerd
Re: Fraud What Fraud?
said by WiseOldNerd :Karl, apparently nobody else sees the tongue in cheek humor of your comment on who is supporting USF expansion. At least both of them will be gone in the new year. It would be nice if the new Justice Department administration launched an investigation into this disgraceful situation and really laid the phone companies up side the head with some serious penalties. I do like the idea of community service. First let them pick up litter and garbage and then wash down the streets by licking them with their long slimy tongues. They might include all current and former FCC members as equal participants in the conspiracy to defraud. If you took the trouble to actually read the court documents (like I did) rather than relying on the way it's being framed, you'd realize this has nothing to do with the USF fund per se. It has to do with exactly how the bills were written. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| reply to NetAdmin
Re: Just 1 more reason to bag the USF fund for all time
said by NetAdmin :said by TKJunkMail :The fund should be abolished all together. So, by eliminating the USF and the funding that goes to schools and libraries to provide internet and other network access, you obviously support making our schools and education system even less competitive, right? That is the only logical conclusion from your statement because you don't make an exception for funding schools and libraries. Dumping the USF has NOTHING to do with funding schools. Using the USF for school funding has been a total disaster as the funds have gone to things that have nothing to do with adequately educating children. Keep the Feds away from school funding - leave that to the states and local communities where it belongs.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk? |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
2 edits | reply to rit56
LOL. Read much in to a simple factual post???
End of discussion - with you anyway. |
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stevephl
join:2000-11-27
Colorado Springs, CO
·Comcast
| reply to NetAdmin
An even better approach to school funding, start by eliminating some of the fat that is cut back on the number of administrators and non-teaching positions at schools. Elimination of the NEA and teacher unions. If a school needs a technology upgrade then put a measure so stating this and why on the local school district ballot and let the people decide if they want to fund this project. Do not automatically steal the money from people for supposed school or library upgrades.
But really does your schools success/failure hinge on any dollars reaped from the USF? Maybe your local board of education needs to reconsider its priorities, cut back on sports programs to reinforce technology projects right? |
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :Dumping the USF has NOTHING to do with funding schools. On the contrary, USF funding pays for the internet connectivity and much of the network equipment used in schools. Look up the E-Rate program.
Using the USF for school funding has been a total disaster as the funds have gone to things that have nothing to do with adequately educating children. Nothing? I'm pretty sure giving kids a basic understanding of computers and how to use the internet is pretty important to the education process. In a country where the kids leaving school aren't as competitive with other nations in technology, science and math, it seems pretty obvious that technology needs to be part of the curriculum.
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Drilling for more oil is akin to giving a methhead the keys to the meth lab. |
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
| reply to stevephl
said by stevephl :AIf a school needs a technology upgrade then put a measure so stating this and why on the local school district ballot and let the people decide if they want to fund this project. That would work if EVERY school district had funding parity. What your idea does is create an issue where districts with poorer citizens, ergo smaller tax bases, would be left at a huge disadvantage. This idea has already been tried and creates more problems than it solves, key among them is that poorer communities get poorer educations due to less or complete inadequate funding.
Do not automatically steal the money from people for supposed school or library upgrades. Stealing? Talk about hyperbole.
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Drilling for more oil is akin to giving a methhead the keys to the meth lab. |
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Zen6
@rr.com
 from:
TKJunkMail
| reply to TKJunkMail
I agree, the USF is now just a cash cow for the telco's. The infrastructure for broadband for schools has been in place for years, and it's cost was negligible. |
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BK3
join:2001-04-10
Geneva, IL
·AT&T Yahoo
| My question ....
My question is = Where is the $17 million dollars going? Who collects the money? What will it be spent on?
OR
Is it one of those non-awards where a company is found to be in the wrong, loses an award, but the award never really gets paid to anyone?
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Atomic batteries to power - Turbines to speed - ready to move out. |
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