1. What is FUSF?

The FUSF is a required government fee paid to the FCC by Aeneas and other Telecom companies on all regulated DSL charges. The FUSF helps maintain affordable local telephone service for everyone and provides discounted phone service to schools, public libraries and rural health care providers. The FUSF also provides assistance to low-income and rural customers so they can maintain essential telephone service at a reasonable rate.

2. Do other telecommunications companies pass the charges on to customers?

Yes. It is legal for all telecommunications companies to pass these FUSF charges along to their customers. These fees are provided for in FCC Tariff No. 1, refer to Sections 4.6(P) and 7.1.2 for details.

3. Do cable and other broadband service providers pay this fee?

No. Current rules only require FUSF contributions for telecommunications services. The FCC has ruled that numerous competitive broadband alternatives (including Cable Modem) are not telecommunications services, and are therefore exempt from FUSF contributions. The FCC has been petitioned to remove this disparate regulatory treatment.

4. It has been my understanding that USF Charges only apply to voice. How can USF apply to Data services as well?