Service Fees

Service fees are added to the cost of actual service charges billed by Telebroad. They may depend on your address, service plan, and additional considerations.

Federal Universal Service Fund Recovery Fee

The federally administrated Universal Service Fund (USF) helps communities around the nation. Its four programs provide discounts, access, and affordable rates on telecommunication services to low-income consumers, consumers living in rural and high-cost areas, schools and libraries, and health care patients and providers in rural areas. Telecommunication companies are required to make a contribution to USF set at a certain percentage of the amount billed to their residential and business customers for interstate and international calls. The Federal Communications Commission adjusts the contribution percentage quarterly based on projected demand for Universal Service funding.

The Universal Service fee charged by Telebroad is used to recover the contributions Telebroad is required to make to the fund. It is calculated as a percentage of your phone bill. Telebroad is permitted, but not required, to recover these costs from its customers. The recovery fee cannot exceed Telebroad's contribution to the USF.

911 Emergency Service Fees

There are two fees associated with 911 service:

• 911 Service Fee - since VoIP numbers can be dialled from any location, additional technology and registration is needed for providing 911 emergency service in what is known as E911 (enhanced 911). This fee is used for recovering Telebroad's cost of providing 911 and E911 service to it's VoIP customers. The fee is not mandated by any level government, but Telebroad is permitted to charge it.
• 911 Fee - is collected by the state or county to provide funding for the local operation of 911 emergency response by police, fire, and ambulance services, allowing for the identification of the phone number and location of an emergency caller. The amount of the fee is mandated by each state and is directly tied to your address that you have registered with us.

Local Number Portability fee

In the past customers had to get a new phone number when porting. But now when switching to another service provider or carrier, a customer can retain his existing number thanks to Local Number Portability (“LNP”). Telebroad is required to provide LPN to its customers and make contributions to the FCC to help with the costs of administrating it. The fee associated with the contribution varies by region.

Telecommunications Relay Services Fund

Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) helps hearing or speech impaired individuals to use a traditional telephone. It is set in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Telebraord, as all voice over Internet protocol providers, is obligated to make contributions to the TRS Fund, established by the FCC to compensate TRS providers for reasonable costs of providing transmission services. The level of the contribution varies annually and Telebroad is allowed to collect it from its customers.

Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee

This fee, which is referred to as CRF, is charged by Telebroad to recover various incurred legal, regulatory, tax, intellectual property, and compliance related costs and expenses. The fee is not mandated by any level government, but Telebroad is permitted to charge it.

The fee covers, but is not limited, to the following costs and expenses:

• Federal, State and local regulatory and compliance requirements including reporting and filing requirements;
• customer privacy and anti-fraud protection;
• the acquisition and protection of proprietary rights, intellectual property, patents, and trademarks;
• assistance with official and civil investigations requests and subpoenas;
• administrative costs and payments management to third party service providers;
• annual FCC regulatory fee for providing interstate communication services.

State & Local Taxes (Sales Tax)

Telebroad collects state and local taxes, also know as sales tax, for the sales of communication services and hardware. The tax is a percentage of the total sale and varies with the imposing government. The taxes are assessed by and remitted back to states, counties, municipal governments, and districts where Telebroad operates.