So Much For the Universal Service Fund

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/us/18broadband.html?hp

Digital age slow to reach rural areas.

 

Re: So Much For the Gore Tax

I read nothing about Gore in that story.

 

Re: So Much For the Gore Tax

Of course you didn't.

 

Re: So Much For the Gore Tax

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

 

Re: So Much For the Gore Tax

And all the Gore/Internet stuff has certainly attained urban legend status.

 

Re: So Much For the Gore Tax

Let the bears pay the bear tax. I pay the Homer tax.

 

Re: So Much For the Gore Tax

Yes - I misspoke - meant rural. We've been paying the gore tax since 1996 on our phone bills. I would have thought by now the digital divide would have been narrowed.
Where is all this tax going? Certainly the phone and cable companies are making millions.

 

Of all the lobbies that have Congress by the balls, probably none has a tighter grip than telecommunication. More than Israel, oil or the banks. The ability to communicate is the only true ability a pol really has. People who hold the power over communication terrify them.

 

Seems to me the problem isn't the tax - it's telcom's refusal to build infrastructure in low-profit areas even when subsidized to do so. The genius of the free market at work!

 

So, telephone companies need to upgrade their infrastructure to offer high speed internet, right?

What about cable companies? If the area is wired for cable, does that mean they can offer high speed internet, or would they also have to upgrade infrastructure?

The article didn't make it clear.

 

Compounded by the FCC not holding telecoms feet to the fire. Obviously the tax has not been used to it's fullest.

Interesting thing is that cable companies are not subject to the tax- even for phone and high speed internet.