Fee could increase if phone companies' proposal OK'd
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A local consumer group says residents of Massachusetts and most other states could pay millions more in fees to the federal Universal Service Fund under a proposal from telephone companies. The $7 billion fund supports phone service in rural areas and provides Internet service at a discount to schools. The fund is financed by assessments on long-distance charges, but companies ...
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Consumers who use wireless or  Internet-based telephones could see their bills rise, as the  U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved on Wednesday an  interim new plan for funding phone service subsidies.
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Sprint is canceling some fees it charges to cover its own costs and replacing them with other âregulatoryâ and âadministrativeâ fees. The money goes to Sprint, not the government.
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Confusion about phone tariffs means users could be wasting Â£8bn a year, warns an online comparison service.
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A start-up wireless company has  proposed a high-stakes debate with Verizon Communications  before U.S. regulators considering how the government should  conduct an auction of valuable wireless spectrum.
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Rates for some AT&T Corp. prepaid  telephone cards, widely popular among U.S. military families  trying to stay connected, could go up about 20 percent under a  plan being considered by U.S. communications regulators, the  company said on Friday.
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(InfoWorld) - Several lawmakers protested a spectrum auction proposal from the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), saying his plan could limit the number of bidders and raise costs to consumers. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's plan would require winners of part of theÂ 700MHz band of spectrum, to be auctioned by early next year, to accept any wireless devices, including phone handsets, allowing customers to transfer devices between mobile providers. Martin's plan would also include net neutrality-like rules, prohibiting auction winners from blocking or slowing Web content from other providers. But several members of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, many of them Republicans, questioned Martin's proposed rules, which have support of the majority of the FCC. Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said he was "very disappointed" that fellow Republican Martin was proposing regulations for part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned. Some proposals byÂ consumer groups and Frontline WirelessÂ would also require auction winners to provide wholesale access to competitors, and Barton praised Martin for not including that provision. "It's not quite as bad as the Frontline plan, but I don't think it's as good as absolute no-condition auction," Barton said. Many Republicans suggested that auction conditions would decrease the value of the spectrum. Congress has budgeted the auction to raise $10 billion with about half of that going toward reducing the U.S. government budget deficit. "Congress has already spent that money," said Representative Charles Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat. Questions about Martin's proposal came from a handful of Democrats. Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked FCC commissioners whether the device-portability rules would increase the cost of wireless phone plans. Customers want to be able to take their mobile phones with them when they switch carriers, but carriers generally haven't offered that option, Martin said. "I think the benefits outweigh the costs and concerns," he said. Barton suggested that winning bidders could implement the device-portability and net neutrality proposals without FCC mandate. Google has indicatedÂ it could bid billions of dollars, Barton noted. "Why shouldn't we just let Google bid?" Barton said. "If they've got a better idea, why don't they go into the marketplace and bid their four or five billion dollars?" There's customer demand for device portability, but carriers haven't acted on it, Martin said. Wireless carriers didn't offer phone number portability until the FCC forced them to in late 2003, then millions of U.S. residents took advantage of it, he said. Asked whether they supported Martin's proposals, the FCC's two Democrats said they did, while the two other Republicans said they hadn't made their minds up yet. "Please let me keep my phone and let me take it wherever I want," said subcommittee chairman Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. The so-called open-access rules are necessary for new broadband competition to challenge cable and telecom providers, said FCC commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat. The 700MHz auction is the last major spectrum auction on the horizon, many participants said. "This is one proceeding where we cannot fail," Copps said. Some lawmakers suggested Martin's proposal doesn't go far enough. Representative Charles "Chip" Pickering, a Mississippi Republican, called on the FCC to require wholesale access rules as well. Wholesale access would allow new and innovative services to flourish on the networks using the spectrum, he said. Martin's plan would "enhance markets and competition," he added.
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The combination could force other carriers to seek partners, people with knowledge of the talks said Wednesday.
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Customers of mobile-phone carriers shouldn't have to pay early termination fees if they're called to overseas military service or have their contracts automatically extended every time they call customer support, critics said Wednesday.
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A judge suggested a possible compromise in a patent dispute between Internet phone carrier Vonage and Verizon Communications that would allow Vonage to continue signing up new customers while it modifies its technologies.
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The fee increase would help cover the cost of processing offering plans submitted to the attorney generalâs office; such filings grew to 929 in 2006 from 299 in 2002.
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Proposed new U.S. fee increases would make it a lot more expensive for immigrants to become citizens, a report said.  Among its proposals is one to raise the application fee for U.S.
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A proposal for a wireless phone directory raises concerns in Congress.
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Prepaid wireless companies say they may have to sharply raise the prices of their discount cellphones after a federal ruling that hobbles their ability to crack down on a rampant foreign black market in the devices.
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By EUGENE TONG\\ Staff Writer  GLENDALE -- A proposed fee for developers that could raise up to $200 million for new parks, open space and libraries over the next two decades is on hold after the City Council deferred to builders' concerns that it is too much, too soon.
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Both U.S. satellite radio providers  envision a time when they will raise the monthly fee  subscribers pay for their services, but no increase is planned  in the near term, executives said on Wednesday.
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A new service promises cheaper mobile calls by exploiting VOIP, but it's not going to be easy. The big carriers must be considered, plus customers will have to punch lots of extra numbers. By Rachel Metz.