FCC Has $185 Million in Unclaimed Broadband Funding > They already get government funding..

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Re: They already get government funding..

So the gov't should police that program. it doesn't mean any excess use nets AT&T profit, nor does it pay for connecting new homes.
Remember that AT&T was the service provider, the abusers were others who misused the system, by law AT&T was not allowed to make judgement as to whether it was appropriete usage or not.
And that the operators/whistleblowers who reported the abuse did so in violation of the law (it was a good thing/bad law)

You should really blame whoever drafted the ADA regulations for not including proper safe guards.

I certainly do blame the poorly written bills, which have good intention, but didn't foresee the abuse and lack of responsibility on the teclo's part.

And since neither pay for connecting new homes, AT&T is more than happy to keep the cash cow rolling while rejecting the broadband funding that.. would.. shocker.. make them actually show results!
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Suppose they don't believe it is possible to provide the upgrades and connect the homes under the stated conditions for the amount offered.
aren't they being responsible for refusing to take the funding?

They've probably suggested many plans.
But generally YOU (gov't/people) figure out what you want done, and then you go to the contractor (s) and ask "How Much?
If you just start with (a likely) prime contractor and say "what do we need?/just do it/ send the bill later." you end up with endless pentagon style programs and overruns and delays and get the most expensive, bullet-proof, bomb resistant, triple locked, lasar guided swiss army knife ever built.

given you will NEVER see that kind of budget, or timetable or national priority assigned to this what you really need to do is encourage those prime contractor to do much of this on their own (requires consitant longterm investment, tax, and RoW regulations that acknowledge the long(10-20-30-40 year) investment window needed, so they can assure their lenders/stockholders of a return.) and only suplement/direct for the few places that will NEVER become profitable.
To keep costs down to match our limited We The PEOPLE need to trim as many extras from our list as possible, so we might still give schools and libraries freebies, but city dept's? and everyone we think has some sort of disadvantage? or has a limited budget? and those we wish to honor? (I have seen proposals that suggest ALL vets should get free service and or wound vets, which while we are thankful, everyone who can MUST pay, or the remaining few will be overwhelmed by the cost (social security?).

In return for their longterm financing, design and construction they will need to charge a rate that pays for ALL of it. which may be more than some think it should be.