sundance-communications.com Forums Telephone Services Telecom Service & Providers Expensive phone service!

Everyone is curious about that pesky "FSLC", or Federal Subscriber Line Charge on phone bills. Well, here's an example of where some of that money goes:

STORY HERE

So it is a constitutional right for a person to have telephone service where ever they may choose to live? This is as wasteful as that bridge to nowhere. I suppose the next thing I will hear is that MN needs a 4+ mile bridge across Lake of the Woods to connect us to our silly Northwest Angle without having to drive into Canada. After all, 152 Minnesotans live there!

I won't bore you with chapter and verse on tariffs and FCC regulations but the independent telephone companies who still cover the majority of rural america couldn't function without these subsidies! For the most part their infrastructure is light years ahead of the major players. If you really want to complain, do so about the universal service fund and how those major players suckle at this teet everyday! It will all be a moot point in a few years anyway as the taxing base for PSTN will be eclipsed by VoIP, for now, a non-taxed entity!

I got interested on this topic but unfortunately, the link is 404