Any ISP can tap into Erate funding. We are a WISP and lots of our
school customers get Erate funding/discounts.
On 7/15/2014 8:53 PM, Bob Evans wrote:
I think your point needs to be explained. Because anything gnment is
riddled will large carrier benefiting. Look at the school discounts for
internet services...pretty much just for LECs.
Thank You
Bob Evans
CTO
I have stayed out of much of this, but can't help myself. Along with
everything else, you are seriously misinformed about the process of
becoming an ETC. It is not onerous. Please stop. You are giving
rural
ISPs a bad reputation.
On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 7:57 PM, Brett Glass <na...@brettglass.com> wrote:
At 05:06 PM 7/15/2014, Rubens Kuhl wrote:
Do you see Connect America Fund, the successor to Universal Service
Fund,
as a threat to US rural WISPs or as the possible solution for them ?
It's a major threat to rural WISPs and all competitive ISPs. Here's why.
The FCC is demanding that ISPs become "Eligible Telecommunications
Carriers," or ETCs, before they can receive money from it. An ETC is a
telephone company which is regulated under the mountain of regulations,
requirements, and red tape of Title II of the Telecomm Act. It has to
report to both state regulatory agencies AND the FCC. It's a
classification
that doesn't fit ISPs at all, but they would have to subject themselves
to
this heavy-handed regulation before they could get a dime from the fund.
The FCC just announced a "rural broadband experiment" in which it will
fund ETCs, but not pure-play ISPs, to build out rural broadband; see
http://www.fcc.gov/document/rural-broadband-experiments-order
As part of this experiment, the FCC will pay telephone companies to
overbuild us, even though the residents of the areas in question already
have service. This is because, as far as the regulators are concerned,
if
they do not have their regulatory hooks in us, we don't exist and any
service we provide does not count. The "experiment" also requires
participants to tie up large amounts of money in escrow accounts so that
they can obtain "letters of credit" guaranteeing performance.
All of this is, alas, the regulators' way of attempting to destroy those
whom they cannot regulate.
IMHO, the USF is outmoded and should be disbanded.
--Brett Glass
--
Fletcher Kittredge
GWI
8 Pomerleau Street
Biddeford, ME 04005-9457
207-602-1134
