I may be required to participate in the Lifeline program soon, so I'm
freshly read up on the topic. The headline illustrates the author's
ignorance.
Lifeline was created in the 80's to offset the cost of phone service
(offset, not free) for lower income people. It was expanded at some
point to include cell phones (also known as "Obamaphone" in right wing
media). In 2016 it was modified again to include broadband internet.
The subsidy is $9.25/month per household. A cell phone is the only case
where you might get free service, and it will be a pre-paid plan with
hard usage limits.
If Lifeline for broadband goes away nobody is losing broadband, they
just might have to pay an extra $9.25. For us I thought it would be a
huge waste of time. If I'm in a low income household and we're allowed
ONE subsidy per household, would we use it to get a free cell phone or
to get a marginal discount on fixed Internet access? I'm betting
they'll pick the free cell phone every time. I think they should poop
or get off the pot, i.e.: Make the subsidy for broadband $30/month which
will actually help poor people pay for real broadband access, or just
stop wasting everybody's time on the paperwork.
-Adam
------ Original Message ------
From: "Steve Jones" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: 3/30/2018 11:59:56 PM
Subject: [AFMUG] Internet is no a right.. f the ot
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/please-dont-take-broadband-away-from-poor-people-democrats-tell-fcc-chair/
You want pornhub, fucking pay for it. You die without water, you get
blueballs without jerking off.
