Re: have their cake and eat it too in http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r17973181 en Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:06:56 EDT Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:06:56 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17976297 Old_Grouch :
said by sporkme See Profile :

It is public money, so please, point us all to where we can get these figures from the FCC. :)
Actually, the FCC doesn't manage the money or issue the reports on how it is spent.

If you really want to know, visit Universal Service Administrative Company's Web Site. They are the group charged with keeping track of how much is spent by state by category (High Cost, Rural Health Care, Low Income and Schools/Libraries )

The web site includes the make-up of their board of directors as well as the names of the leadership team.

They provide a Whistleblower Hotline to report failures if you know anyone who wants to go on record instead of just whining.

And their reports dating back to 1998 are available for anyone you know who wants to dismount from a soapbox and do a bit of reading.

If you don't want to do any digging, the annual reports from 1999 through 2005 are Here. The annual report for 2006 should be filed with both Congress and the FCC by the end of March.

I won't say whether I think USF is right or wrong, but I certainly don't think it is being managed in secret.
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Your computer is NOT busy enough... visit Team Discovery]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17976297 Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:17:46 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17974137 en102 : I agree - what company would say no to free money.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17974137 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:40:32 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17974016 Karl Bode :
quote:
From what I can tell from this, AT&T and Verizon are trying to stop or decrease the slush fund.
You repeat this six times in these comments, but it's just not accurate. They want a bigger share of the "slush fund" pie, and could care less about seeing the system managed properly or the payouts reduced. Again, unless you'd like to try and sell me on the idea that a telco lobbyist and PR man like Tauke is really interested in philathropy and not pleasing investors....]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17974016 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:19:48 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973846 anon : From what I can tell from this, AT&T and Verizon are trying to stop or decrease the slush fund. Much of the "slush fund" consists of termination fees that AT&T and Verizon pay to the small telcos each time a call is terminated in the rural areas. By regulation, the small telcos get a much higher per minute fee.

The big guys seem to be arguing that the payments that they make to the rural telcos should be decreased and brought closer in line to the standard fees. So, yeah, they are arguing that it should be stopped. Unsurprisingly, really-- a lot of the USF funds consist of taking money from Verizon and AT&T and giving it to the rural telcos. Of course, Verizon and AT&T pass much of the fees on to their own customers.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973846 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:54:08 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973181 Karl Bode : The GAO completed the audit, the FCC said they'd look into it, and nothing has changed.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973181 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:15:18 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973059 nasadude :
said by jafo1972 See Profile :

Funds provided by the USF are being audited. I know for sure. I don't know why people think the FCC is not tracking those funds.
if I remember correctly, the funds have been audited before, horrible problems were found and nothing was done.

people don't think the FCC is tracking these funds because there are mountains of evidence of waste, fraud and abuse and the FCC never does anything that makes any difference (if they are doing anything at all).]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973059 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 14:54:30 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973015 sporkme :
said by jafo1972 See Profile :

Funds provided by the USF are being audited. I know for sure. I don't know why people think the FCC is not tracking those funds.
It is public money, so please, point us all to where we can get these figures from the FCC. :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17973015 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 14:48:33 EDT Re: have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17972955 jafo1972 : Funds provided by the USF are being audited. I know for sure. I don't know why people think the FCC is not tracking those funds.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17972955 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 14:40:51 EDT have their cake and eat it too http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17972872 en102 : AT&T and Verizon just want to have their cake and eat it too. USF/FUSF is a slush fund that should be stopped or at least made accountable. We all know that will never happen.
Telco's have lobbied in and sued in some cases when they were not able to deploy their upgrades... do we really think AT&T and Verizon _need_ USF funding - they have enough.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17972872 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 14:25:14 EDT