Nobody likes paying a telephone bill, landline, cell or otherwise. The long-term contracts, early termination fees and the bewildering array of fees and limits make comparison shopping a drudge. This isnÂ’t so, however, for nearly 1 every 10 Maryland residents who get their telephone free from the Lifeline subsidy program. The rest of us pay for it.
The Baltimore Sun reported Sunday that the number signed up for free telephones in the aptly named Free State has went kaboom! 90-fold from a mere 5,821 in 2008 to nearly 509,000 in 2012. The number would have been higher if not for a targeted Federal Communications Commission audit that pushed more than 230,000 freeloading Marylanders off the program late last year.
The Lifeline program was started as part of the Universal Service Fund in 1985. Legislators from rural states thought it was a great idea to tax the telephones of city dwellers to cover the cost of running telephone lines to remote locations in, for example, Alaska. With tens of billions in taxes paid, the goal of universal service was accomplished. Landline phones are widely available with wireless alternatives available to fill gaps in availability. So the program shifted focus. |