TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: 911, Taxes, and Fees, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem

Re: 911, Taxes, and Fees, was: Texas Sues Vonage Over 911 Problem

Tony P. (kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net)
Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:40:17 -0500

In article <telecom24.131.8@telecom-digest.org>, dannyb@panix.com
says:

> Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:

>> *If* Vonage were willing to pay the same fees other local exchange
>> carriers pay for 911 connectivity *in each LATA*, *then* Vonage could
>> route 911 calls correctly. Avoiding this *cost* has been a major
>> competitive win for Vonage all along and it is hard to not see it as
>> a major reason, if not _the_ reason, why Vonage has fought state
>> regulation as a local exchange carrier: by avoiding regulatory mandates
>> like 911 service standards Vonage avoids the cost of compliance.

> So let me get this straight. Local (and state) gov'ts pretend that a
> 911 PSAP (Public Safety Answering Position) isn't part of the standard
> functions of government, and therefore they get the telcos to pass
> through a separate "911 fee" (read tax).

> Oh, for good measure, if you look at umptity audits you'll find that
> the amount of the "911 fee" has next to nothing to do with how much
> money is acually put into the PSAP. To the government, it's all one
> big pot of money.

Indeed -- here in Rhode Island all receipts go into a thing called the
General Fund. Bad, bad, bad, bad.

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