tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751054.post7161605030544000844..comments2023-06-08T11:58:31.030-04:00Comments on On-Tech E-Rate Musings: The $1.5 billion is official-ishOn-Techhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13423450823765892451noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751054.post-21617370770758430162014-11-19T09:06:28.317-05:002014-11-19T09:06:28.317-05:00Commissioner O'Rielly also closed his speech t...Commissioner O'Rielly also closed his speech to the Chamber of Commerce (http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db1117/DOC-330514A1.pdf) with a warning that the new proposal was going to be costly to businesses. <br /><br />The Commissioner implied businesses would "pay at least 16 percent more for communications services." That's a gross exaggeration, since the increased fee only applies to part of telecom bills. Let's take a look at what it will really mean. To do so, I am going to unscientifically pick three bills that are handy.<br /><br />The first is a bill for bundled Internet/VoIP and a 100 Mbps WAN link. The service charges are $4,800/month. The USF fee is $38.54. If the contribution climbs 17.2% (Pai's number), that will mean an increase in cost of $6.64/month. That's an increase of 0.14% in the total cost of that bill.<br /><br />The second is a cell phone bill for 8 lines (some of them with data plans). The total cost is $775.70, and the USF charge is $20.42. The increase would be $3.51/month, or 0.45%.<br /><br />And here's a bill for 22 phone lines and a couple of analog circuits totalling $751.40. The USF charges are $42.68. The increase cost would be $7.34, or 0.98%.<br /><br />So based on my bogusly small sample, it looks like the increase in telecom costs will be between 0.5% and 1%. Not 16%.On-Techhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13423450823765892451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751054.post-89955858571780710612014-11-19T08:35:46.013-05:002014-11-19T08:35:46.013-05:00And Commissioner O'Rielly has released a state...And Commissioner O'Rielly has released a statement on the plan: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db1117/DOC-330517A1.pdf<br /><br />What's his position? Here's a hint: he called it a "spending spree."<br /><br />It's also oddly worded. He keeps says "the FCC did this" and "the FCC will do that." It seems a strange way to put it, since he's 20% of the FCC. Not that he has any good choices; he certainly doesn't want to use "we," but he can't use "they." Actually, I give Commissioner O'Rielly kudos for not being partisan, because the obvious thing to do would have been to say "the Democratic Commissioners did this" and then use "they." Both he and Commissioner Pai avoided getting that overtly partisan, which I applaud.On-Techhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13423450823765892451noreply@blogger.com