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Verizon Network The Internet

Verizon Forces Users Onto Pricier Plans To Get $50-Per-Month Government Subsidy (arstechnica.com) 31

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Verizon and other Internet service providers are preventing some low-income customers from getting new $50-per-month government subsidies unless they switch to different plans that are sometimes more expensive. Over 825 ISPs nationwide are selling plans eligible for the new subsidies that the US government made available to people who have low incomes or who lost income during the pandemic. Verizon stands out among big ISPs in its use of the subsidy to "upsell" customers to pricier plans, according to a story yesterday by Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler.

"Soon after the EBB [Emergency broadband Benefit program] launched, I started hearing from Washington Post readers about their frustrations signing up with certain ISPs," he wrote. "Verizon elicited the most ire from readers." Instead of letting people enroll online, Verizon requires them to call a phone number to sign up and then "tells some customers the EBB can't be used on 'old' data plans, so they'll have to switch," the Post article said. Verizon is limiting the plans available on both mobile and home Internet service. The EBB is temporary, lasting until the $3.2 billion in program funding runs out or six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares an end to the pandemic. Verizon customers who have to switch to a more expensive plan in order to get the $50 monthly discount would have to pay the higher rate after the subsidy expires.

"At the end of the program, you will either continue on your plan at the price without the EBB discount or you will end your Internet-related services with Verizon," a company FAQ says. "We will give you an opportunity to decide this at the beginning of your enrollment into the EBB program and again before the end of the program. If you do not affirmatively choose to keep your Internet-related services, the FCC requires that we disconnect those services at the end of the EBB program." Verizon defended its implementation of the subsidy program yesterday, saying it has enrolled nearly 1,000 customers in less than a week. But that's just an average, and yesterday's Washington Post story makes clear that some customers would have to switch to more expensive plans to get the subsidy.
Earlier today, the FCC said that more than one million U.S. households have signed up to take part in the broadband subsidy program, which is being accepted at over 900 broadband providers. Some providers estimate the program could run out of money in four to six months.
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Verizon Forces Users Onto Pricier Plans To Get $50-Per-Month Government Subsidy

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  • by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Thursday May 20, 2021 @04:44PM (#61405074)
    My solution would be even more government intervention! But there are alternatives.
    • it's a classic trick ISPs have used for ages. They'll use any excuse to raise your rates while "upgrading" your service. Virtually any change will trigger these shenanigans and sometimes no change.

      My ISP will periodically give me a "free" speed upgrade that just so happens to coincide with a price increase. Since they're a defacto monopoly I can take it or leave it, whereas the "it" I'd be leaving is my internet access.
      • Yup.
        I would rather pay to bring fiber to poverty areas, and let them be a utility and bypass such companies like Verizon.
    • It is astounding to me that the government needed to further specify this program. It seems simple. Government grants virtual voucher after application. Citizen submits virtual voucher to internet provider to pay for some of the bill. Who would have thought it needed to be specified that the internet provider must accept that for any internet service including any currently active one. There should be no "EBB" plans to segregate folks into. Only their existing offerings.

      The virtual voucher should have the l

      • You would of thought the people that wrote the bill (wasn't that mostly Democrats, as not a single Republican voted for this last bill) would of had enough experience writing legislation that this could of been avoided.

        Shame the Democrats are just as corrupt as the fucking Republicans.

    • This sounds to me like extortion. By a company, so this would be a criminal organization. Verizon should be closed for this.
  • Release the lawyers!

  • by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Thursday May 20, 2021 @05:13PM (#61405142)
    You've got congresscritters, with their low 6 figure salaries, competing against private companies, who have armies of high 6 figure salaries. All it takes is one person to find a loophole and BOOM, everyone knows about that loophole.
    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      Which is kinda why counterfeit shares (aka naked short selling) are a thing, allowing some companies to make trillions off small businesses. Though as long as the people protest and fight back, loopholes can be closed. The game can be stopped
  • ... for the subsidies?

    I go to Verizon and tell them to give me their cheap plan. They do. Then I turn around and apply to the gov't for their subsidy.

    Why isn't it set up like this?

    • I don't think that it is an eligibility issue. You do apply to the government for the subsidy. They simply need to say that the resulting voucher is legal tender for any internet plan including existing ones. This wasn't just meant for folks who don't have a plan. It was also meant for those who have broken down and gotten a plan that they can't really afford right now out of necessity because activities have been abnormally forced into the home.
    • by nadass ( 3963991 )

      ... for the subsidies?

      The Government. Their EBB already stipulates the eligibility criteria (i.e. sufficient proofs of low income).

      I go to Verizon and tell them to give me their cheap plan. They do. Then I turn around and apply to the gov't for their subsidy.

      Why isn't it set up like this?

      Verizon basically bills the Gov't's EBB program $50 to help pay for the subscriber's plan (provided the subscriber is indeed eligible). But Verizon is looking to screw customers by saying they need an upgrade first... which they don't... but Verizon is just making stuff up at this point.

  • Biden is allowing the progressives to be as bad as the fascist in that he is not caring about the deficit/debt.
    It needs to be changed.

    Far better to NOT do subsidies here, but instead, push through for local fiber to be put in to poor areas. Do it as a utility.
    This is like the billions that we waste buying heating oil for the poor. We would be better off pushing these places off heating oil and over to geothermal HVAC, assuming that the rest of the building is in decent shape.
  • I applied on the FCC Web site and got approved, after two tries and a week of fussing over bureacratic paperwork. They actually demand you upload tax returns and electronically sign a perjury affidavit. For a nominal $50 monthly handout that may or may not materialize, and for who knows how long.

    So I had a magic approved application ID, a code number. I expected I would simply have to type that code into my ISP's online account management, and they would handle the rest. I don't wanna disclose who my

    • Worse then that, after that subsidy runs out (next month?) you'll have to pay the $10 additional beyond what you were paying before trying to use a government program.

      This is what we mean when we say government interference only makes things worse.

      Maybe the whole idea behind this subsidy was to help Verizon. If we look at it that way, this all makes more sense.

  • Most of us who spend most of our time on wi-fi just don't need unlimited data plans. I recently dropped mine, and saved $70/month.

    I, like most customers, don't like being strong-armed, whether by a government (to get a vaccine that I choose EVERY year not to get) or by a company (to buy a product/service I don't want or need just to get something I do).

    • Back in the days when texts were going unlimited, I figured I'd save 10$ a month by having mine limited, I don't text a lot after all. Then for a few months I got a girlfriend that was a text fiend. 2 months into this I noticed my last 2 phone bills were over 400$ each... so much for saving.

  • Government has a bad habit of keeping supposedly temporary programs around forever. My bet is that one of the first bills introduced after either of the events that are set to end the program will be to continue it for a little longer, on the excuse that it would be cruel to take away this temporary support people have come to depend upon (even if they don't anymore). Then a little longer, then forever. They may even jump straight to making it permanent.

    As a side note, corrupt politicians usually sprea

  • I mean, pretty much anybody that's been paying attention knew those subsidies were going to funnel directly into ISP hands with little if any benefit to consumers. That's the way government programs work now. On the surface it may be labeled as something to help, protect, or otherwise enrich individuals, but in the end all that money WILL find its way into corporate coffers, and the citizens intended to benefit from it will simply have the pleasure of moving a piece of paper (virtual or real) from one han

  • I find it hard to believe a multi-billion dollar company would take advantage of a government program to assist the poor. I guess there's a first for everything.

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