Universal Service Fund Facts

The Universal Service Fund Fee is a federal approved fee, imposed by local or long distance companies, on interstate and international usage, which is used to provide telecommunications access to school and colleges in rural and low income areas where the likely hood of technology would be slim. The amount imposed varies depending on your state and/or local area because every state has a different level of need.

It is very difficult to give a uniform answer as to where you can locate this charge on your phone bill. All of our services offered with Chamberlain Communications follow the state and local policies when assessing USF Fees, and it could be listed under any of the following areas: federal tax, state tax, county tax, or even "special tax", and rarely even under "USF Fee" (imagine that!)

Universal Service Fund Fee

The Universal Service Fund is made up of four components:

• Low Income Discounts
• High Cost Telecom Service Area Support
• Schools and Library Telecom
• Rural Heath Care Telecom

Low Income Discounts

Services such as LinkUp America and Lifetime Assistance Discounts provide for low income families by offsetting the cost of installation for connection to telephone networks. Lifetime Assistance Discount reduce the monthly local service based on qualified income through each state's regulatory agency (find yours at http://www.naruc.org.

Schools and Libraries

Schools and libraries develop approved technology plans that show how the curriculum and educational objectives are positively affected by the discount. Discounts are 20%-90% based on the household income level of students in the community as well as well as whether the facility is urban or rural.

Rural Health Care

Public and Not-for-profit health care providers in rural areas receive discounts on monthly telecom charges, installation charges, and long distance internet connection charges. Facilities such as teaching hospitals and medical schools, community mental health clinics, local health departments,Non-Profit hospitals, and rural health care facilities qualify.

Common Questions Consumers Ask about USF Fees

1. Who Pays for Universal Service?
All Telecom Carriers who provide interstate and international calling service pays for the Service Fund. These include: Long distance providers, local phone companies, wireless providers, paging companies, and payphone providers. All make contributions to one common fund.

2. How much do these companies contribute?
A certain percentage of the total amount billed to residential and business customers for interstate and international usage. The percentage is adjusted every quarter based on the projected demands of the USF.

3. Does the FCC require telephone carriers to pass on this contribution cost to the customers?
No. Each providers decides how to recoop their cost. No company is required to charge their customers for this fee.

Basic Advice? Remember the FCC does not require your phone company to place Universal Service charges on your bill. Telephone companies are taking very different approaches as to how they recover USF costs from their customers. That said, let our experience tell you that they ALL do, even the VoIP providers do.