Subsidies For Broadband To Be DIsbursed By Universal Service Fund

Subsidies For National Broadband Plan snapvoip.blogspot.com
Federal regulators on Tuesday released the details of the National Broadband Plan, an effort to encourage the spread of high-speed Internet access through out the United States. The 376-page proposal already raising questions, even from the supporters, about its goals.
If you ever got a telephone bill (in USA), you know what the Universal Service Fund is. Created with greatest intensions, USF has become a white elephant, spending more in administration not targeting the subsidies properly.
But FCC and it's chairman is seeking to use Universal Service Fund as a vehicle for executing it's Broadband plans. But FCC seem to have missed to see that it need to repurpose current funds and loading the fund with additional monies to the tune of $8 billion by taxing customers of the  carriers further.

NYT is carring an article on the subject;

Chief among its goals, the F.C.C. wants future broadband investment to be focused on the areas where gaps in service remain. It will direct this investment in part through the Universal Service Fund, a program for telephone and Internet access, costing $8 billion annually, paid through a phone bill surcharge. Over time, the subsidies for Internet will increase and those for phone will dissipate, with the knowledge that people can make online calls.

“Some of the details are lacking, particularly on Universal Service Fund reform,” said Dan Mitchell, a vice president for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, a group that represents rural providers and worries that the proposals to change phone carrier costs will curtail the providers’ abilities to expand infrastructure.

NYT 
 The National Broadband Plan

An American Tale, The Internet in America

Youtube and Google is synonymous with Internet and they are putting those resources and capabilities to use, to tell us all about the Internet, truly an American tale.
Even though The Internet was invented in America, few other nations like South Korea is taking the credit for most covered nations. We still have millions of users without access to a great resource that we take for granted. We start the day with the Internet and end the day with the Internet after planing tomorrow on the Internet.
But then why is this disparity? I think it is the carriers looking for locking in the profit and locking out Americans from accessing the Internet in a positive cost effective manner.
So US Government and the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission have brought up the National Broadband Plan that is being launched next Tuesday. It will layout a plan to bring all Americans on board the Internet in a fast and affordable manner.
So Google and Youtube, with the aid of the CitizenTube has launched a project to interview the chairman of FCC, Julius Genachowski for the occasion.
Starting from today, you can submit your video or text question via Google Moderator, and vote on your favorites. The interview will cover seven topics and submit your question on CitizenTube under one of the topic headings.

• Access and Affordability
• Mobile and Wireless
• Security and Privacy
• Digital Economy
• Internet in Schools
• Open Internet/Network Neutrality
• Others (learn more at Broadband.gov)

YouTube Blog
Official Google Blog: The Internet in America: A YouTube Interview with the FCC

National Broadband Plan, FCC Seeks One Month Extension From Congress

National Broadband Plan snapvoip.blogspot.com
The ambitious and far reaching National Broadband Plan to ensure every American has access to open and robust broadband which Congress entrusted FCC to provide is looking like getting delayed. FCC is seeking an extension to the deadline which falls on February 17,2010. It is years, better, decades over due for making every American has access to Internet, but the enormity of the scope of getting everything right is worth the one month of delay. But as Google Policy blog mentions,;

FCC should set both shorter-term "ubiquity" goals of bringing high-speed Internet access to every single American, and longer-term "stretch" goals of driving the adoption of truly high capacity broadband pipes.

Google Public Policy Blog: FCC seeks short extension to complete National Broadband Plan

US Is Paying Way Too Much For Broadband! FCC Task Force

FCC says that Americans are paying too much for broadband! snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Even though we knew it already, a FCC Task force on the subject has confirmed to fact officially! According to Speed Matters blog. It is not only that we are paying too much, we are not even getting what we pay for!

The task force is finding that many Americans are paying for broadband at speeds substantially lower than advertised speeds, on average Americans subscribes to services with maximum speeds of 6 Mbps, while the median average speed delivered is 3 Mbps. You can see that in the status report filed by the task force which is gathering data for the National Broadband Plan.

The National Broadband Plan, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which FCC has until February 17th 2010 to put together a comprehensive plan for Congress, on universal broadband.

"If we get this right, if we develop a sound plan for ensuring access to high-speed Internet for all Americans, broadband can be our country's platform for prosperity and opportunity in the 21st century," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Wednesday.

More information,

Broadband Task Force delivers status report on Feb. 17 National Broadband Plan (FCC)
CWA advocates for broadband plan benchmarks (Speed Matters)