YOUR PHONE BILL IS GOING UP! Stop the FCC's Latest Rip-Off 26OKT11

EVERYONE should participate and send a message to the FCC demanding strong oversight of all public monies the phone companies receive to make sure this doesn't become another rate raising scam from verizon, at&t and the other big telecommunications companies. Click the link to send your message to the FCC.

Stop the FCC's Latest Rip-Off.

Do you want to hand over even more of your hard-earned money to your phone company?
The FCC has a plan for that: This week the agency is weighing a new rule that would give phone companies yet another way to reach into your pocket to pad their profits. Click here to learn more and tell the FCC to pass rules that protect consumers, not AT&T and Verizon.¹
Here’s the deal: The FCC has proposed a so-called “reform” of the Universal Service Fund (USF), a program that has helped secure telephone access for millions of Americans, and which is funded via a small fee in our monthly phone bills. (Look for a line item labeled something like “universal service charge” or “federal government surcharge” and you’ll find the fee.)
The program’s goals are noble but outdated. So the FCC is looking to funnel these funds toward broadband infrastructure rather than phone lines. There’s just one problem. The FCC has proposed rules that could allow phone companies like AT&T and Verizon to extract billions more from consumers with no accountability.
If we don’t get the FCC to change its plan, carriers would have free rein to add up to $4.50 more to your monthly bill. In an era of $100 “triple-pay” packages, do AT&T and Verizon need more of our money?
Meanwhile, those Americans who can least afford higher bills and who are less likely to have broadband — the poor and the elderly — are the ones who would bear the greatest burden of this rate increase.
The FCC is voting on its proposed rules this week. But it’s not too late for it to change its path. Click here to tell the FCC that we must hold AT&T and Verizon accountable for any public money they receive.
Right now, people around the country are rising up against corporate wrongdoing. This is no time to allow another transfer of our cash to the wealthiest corporations.
Thanks,
Josh Levy
Associate Campaign Director
Free Press
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1. Craig Aaron, 'Is the FCC Reaching Into Your Pocket to Pad Industry Profits?' Huffington Post, Oct. 6, 2011: http://act2.freepress.net/go/6552?akid=2963.9767049.fuh8mS&t=8