FCC unveils proposal for $9.25/month low-income broadband subsidy

[IDemo]

Source: Reuters

The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission circulated Tuesday a final proposal seeking approval for a $9.25 monthly subsidy for low-income Americans to get broadband Internet access.

Since last year, the FCC has been considering revamping the $1.5 billion annual program, called Lifeline, which has helped lower income Americans get access to telecommunications technologies since 1985.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said he wants to give those receiving the subsidy a choice of using it for phone services, high-speed Internet, or both. But households will get only a single $9.25 a month subsidy that would apply to both services. The program currently helps about 12 million U.S. households afford landline and mobile phones, according to agency estimates.

The commission will vote on the proposal at its March 31 meeting and will set a budget of $2.25 billion a year indexed for inflation for the program. The additional budget would allow more than 5 million additional households to take advantage of the program, but the FCC does not expect the entire budget will be used immediately.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/us-fcc-internet-subsidy-idINKCN0WA219

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This will get the Ayn Randian Rightwingers howling with outrage, no doubt.

[JimDandy]

1. It's all in the details. For example, how many gigabytes of data will that $9.25 get a poor person?

And how much slower will their connection be?

[IDemo]

4. I'm not finding info anywhere on data limits or download speeds

Since this is a flat subsidy, those factors may vary a great deal according to area or provider. Anyone?

[Bradical79]

8. Right, as a subsidy, it would all be up to choice

of carrier.

[Kip Humphrey]

2. Question: why do we always feel compelled to charge poor folks something? $9.25/month? Would

making it free break the US govt. bank? I think not.

Its like, "What, you're poor? Well, first we are going to kick you, then we will make sure to humiliate you, and finally we will keep you down".

rant over. Thanks for listening.

[phazed0]

7. $9.25 - and I bet the ISP is still coming out ahead; profit.

I don't think it should be free.. that being said, as an IT guy, my guess is at $9.25/mo the ISP still gets its operating costs back. Put another way, it's cheap for "Internet Service" (and operating costs have gone down 2-fold) for the ISPs and we pay WAY too much already.

[progree]

9. They're not being charged $9.25/mo. Their getting a subsidy of $9.25/mo and have to pay the rest

out of pocket. $9.25/mo hardly pays for anything except dial-up. My measly 14 mb/sec service costs about $50/mo. If I was poor, the subsidy would reduce that to about $41/mo.

[Kip Humphrey]

10. Wow, thanks for the correction. It never occurred to me we would be THAT cruel so I misread it.

[phazed0]

11. Well...

I misread it also! Sh*t! What a crap-assed deal.

[Downwinder]

3. Cell Lifeline is good for about 3 minutes per day.

If you get 3 unsolicited phone calls your day is used up.

How is that going to work for data? Probably enough to check and pickup email.

[procon]

5. That's not enough to pay for anything.

In many rural areas there is only one internet/phone provider. For me, the basic cost is $89 per month, and the modem was an additional $50. If poor people are already struggling to pay the bills, a $9.25 monthly subsidy isn't going to help anyone to get Internet and phone service.

[seabeckind]

6. Why not base level broadband as a municipal utility

the way electricity was distributed back before there was universal electricity?

The base would be a minimal service and cost to everyone and anything added would be on a value-added basis.

All this proposal turns out to be is a giveaway to the cable companies.

It's like giving me $3000 to buy a new car that I can't afford to put plates on and buy insurance.

Thanks for nothing.

[Downwinder]

12. Because the Carriers have pushed through legislation

to prevent that.