Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
| reply to authagent
Re: I agree with the PUC
Here in Hawaii we refer to POTS also as lifeline service. Because that is what 911 from a landline is! I have read a lot of articles on the internet talking about Mainland 911 and in our newspapers in Hawaii and they frequently refer to 911 landline as lifeline services to distingush that kind of 911 from the pathetic 911 that is not real 911 but is offered by Vonage, TW, etc.
BTW, the service for extremely poor persons is not available to low income persons as I am low income and cannot get it. Only those with incomes below $10,000 a year are eligible. I have not checked in the last several years but I don't believe the Hawaii legislature has ever changed the rule although there has been talk about the limit being way too low especially in Hawaii with the very high cost of living. I used to be able to get it but there is no adjustment for the slight yearly increase in disability benefits that I get from Social Security Disability and so I am above the limit now but still low income. It started out many years ago at the $10,000 limit and that was realistic limit then. Today it is mostly a joke as frequently those below that limit are living in tents or on the streets and don't have a way to have a phone.
Verizon Hawaii is being sold to Carlyle simply because Verizon wants out of the landline business as that is dying. That is what I have read in our news media repeatedly. Hawaii needs tremendous upgrade of the lines and Verizon didn't want to put the necessary money into the upgrading. The Consumer Advocate has forced Carlyle to make a number of concessions and now approves of the sale. But many residents, observers and persons in the telco business think Hawaii will now be left far behind as far as technology goes and also that Carlyle is not going to do a thing about the DSL situation here. I live in the second largest city in the state and I cannot get DSL. Carlyle is only looking out for their investors and will probably sell in a few years. I, like many here, am opposed to this sale particularly to Carlyle.
As for cell phones, they can't be used in a lot of areas here and they go out frequently also when the electricity goes off I am told by people who have them. Plus, 911 from a cell phone is not true 911.
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The first and foremost function of our jurors is to protect private citizens from a tyrannical and intrusive government...Jurors are the last line of defense for liberty. Thomas Jefferson 1789 |
