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rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT

rahvin112 to soothsayer15

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to soothsayer15

Re: Fairpoint Will Fold

Verizon has had and currently still has a monopoly. The point of the universal service fund everyone pays into is to cover the losses on the rural areas the phone company sustains. Yet you elitists think that because someone is living in a rural area they aren't allowed to have telephone service or the hope of system upgrades.

The fact is the baby-bells rode the monopoly raking in their 20% profits while supporting the unprofitable rural areas year over year until deregulation happened and now they are handing off the rural lines that don't make money (and not cutting the universal service fees they charge their customers) to increase their profit base. It simply shouldn't be allowed, in fact congress should pass some new regulations that force the baby bells to reacquire at their expense any company they spin off that isn't successful. In fact IMO Verizon should lose all access to the Universal Service fund, or should have to pass all their revenue from those fees directly onto the rural phone providers they are spinning out of the company. It will be a better time in this country when we get an executive administration that's willing to hold these companies to their obligations, and rural phone service is one of their obligations, profitable or not they have to provide service to everyone that asks. If they don't want to run the lines themselves they should pass on the fees they collect that are meant to support those unprofitable areas.
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Wakefield, MA

BosstonesOwn

Member

Get real , the USF is a government fund that Verizon collects for them.

These companies are still regulated. You choose to live in the sticks. Your problem , the universal service fund is doing it's job. It's for phone service , not broadband. Phones are considered mandatory, while broadband is not.
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This is a sub-selection from Fairpoint Will Fold