Aww … poor little ISPs.

  • @alligatorSoup
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    2610 months ago

    Americans pay extra for the ability to call emergency line 911!?

    • @Hirom@beehaw.org
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      10 months ago

      911 and similar emergency numbers always cost money.

      In many places individuals pays for it through taxes, but people may not realize it because there’s 1 tax and 1 big budget that pays for many different public services.

      In the US I guess the cost is separated from other public services, and paid through ISP via a fee.

      • @Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        810 months ago

        I’m just here wondering who out there wouldn’t want to be able to call the emergency line.

        It shouldn’t be a separate fee, but rather incorporated into the tax that pays for all the emergency services anyway.

        • Urist
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          610 months ago

          It’s a tax. You can’t refuse to pay it, it’s just itemized out like that. Only way to avoid paying it is to not pay for a phone.

          It is a regressive tax which is bad (everyone who has a phone line pays the same instead of taxing the rich more) but there are bigger worries in America.

    • HTTP_404_NotFound
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      510 months ago

      You do too. It just might not be reflected on your phone bill, and is just lumped in with your normal taxes / VAT/etc…