FORWARDED::::
Subject: 
        Important re: FCC
  Date: 
        Tue, 11 Feb 1997 08:07:46 -0500
  From: 
        Long Island PCUG <roy@lipcug.org>
    To: 
        Info@lipcug.org

****Forwarded
 I'm sending this email to inform you of a very important matter
currently 
 under review by the FCC. I first heard about this a few weeks ago from
a 
 friend who works for Lucent Technologies, an AT&T breakaway company.
 Most telephone companies have filed a proposal with the FCC to impose
per 
 minute charges for your internet service.
 They  contend that your usage has or will hinder the operation of the 
 telephone network.
 The FCC has created an email box foryour comments, responses must be
 received by February 13, 1997. Send your comments to
 isp@fcc.gov - and tell them what you think."
 Before commenting on the proposed rule making, you may want to look at
the 
 rule.
 rule.
 
The proposed rule making is available at

 http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Notices/fcc96488.txt

 In addition, all comments to date are also available at the FCC.
homepage
has 
 a search facility and you may want to use "Access Charge Reform" as
your 
 search argument.

 http://www.fcc.gov

 If an average phone bill is $45.00 per month (this is with using a
company 
 that charges 10 cents per minute for long distance to try and keep our
phone

 bills down).  A family that uses the Internet an average of 4 hours per
day 
 This is 240 minutes per day or 720 minutes per 30 day period. 
Estimates
of usage fees ranging between 6 cents per minute to 40 cents per 
minute.
An average phone bill would increase from $45.00 per month to between 
 &89.00 and $333.00 per month!!!  Every person needs to take their
average 
 phone bill and average internet usage and see what YOUR phone bill
would be
if  the Internet Usage Fees are approved.  I think you will be
schocked!!
Even
a  flat rate will not only affect all Internet users but especially
those who 
depend on the Internet for access to the outside world:fixed income,  
 home-bound, elderly, and handicapped. The usage fees will also
negatively 
 affect our educational institutions and businesses.
 Independent Internet Access company charge $19.95 for unlimited
Internet 
 access (Long before "Big Business even thought about the Internet).
 Companies  like them will lose customers and probably be forced out of
business. So much  for the entrepreneurial spirit that our ancestors
founded our country on. If this Internet usage fee is approved, it won't
end there.  With the advent of televisions that are "Internet ready"
using
cable lines, the cable companies will be the next in line to get a "cut
of
the action".
 Everyone needs to write the FCC NOW at - fccinfo@fcc.gov
 to voice your opinion. Show the FCC how this usage fee will DIRECTLY
affect 
 you, the individual citizen. A mass mailing by the people who will be
DIRECTLY AFFECTED by a usage fee is mandatory to let the FCC know that
their 
 responsiblity is to the citizens of the United States (US) and not to
the 
 Telephone Companies who want to line their pockets and pick ours. When
the 
 internet was first created, the telephone companies laughed at the
concept
and turned it down. The Internet concept was first adopted by
universities to 
 share information. Now that it has become popular, the telephone
companies 
 want to get a piece of the pie. Too late! 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Snip off of the FCC Report noted above

26.  Incumbent LEC end offices serving end users switch interstate
traffic
between the transport trunks carrying traffic to and from the IXC POPs
and
the end users' local loops.  Our Part 69 rules require incumbent LECs to
recover the costs of the local switch through a per-minute local
switching
charge assessed on IXCs.  Part 69 also requires incumbent LECs to impose
a
per-minute TIC on interstate switched access traffic.  We note that an
incumbent LEC's provision of transport and local switching for
terminating
interstate traffic is functionally the same as its provision of
transport
and termination service under the 1996 Act. 

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
><>
  Roy Linker, President
      E-Mail: roy@lipcug.org       
   Home Page: http://www.li.net/~lipcug
 Hotline/FAX: 516-546-7857                  
         BBS: 516-546-8025          
 
 Mailing Address
       Long Island PC Users Group                 
       659 Stratford Rd.                  
       Baldwin, NY 11510-1031