Agencies stuck on hold as $50B telecoms contract deadline passes [telecom]

[The Telecom Digest]

By Molly Weisner

About a third of federal agencies including the Social Security
Administration, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture will have another 12 months to transition to a
long-delayed $50 billion telecommunications contract, delaying their
transition to modern systems.

The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security were given until 2026
to complete their transitions, in part because of hardships they cited
related the pandemic.

https://tinyurl.com/yfhcwsk4

[Michael Trew]

Post by The Telecom Digest
https://tinyurl.com/yfhcwsk4

Another complication surrounding the program is a Federal
Communication Commission directive from 2018 that put more
power in the hands of telecomm providers to decide whether
to retire landline copper lines and replace legacy services
like the traditional Plain Old Telephone Service.

“That’s also creating a little bit of turmoil because you’re
seeing carriers raise the price in some areas and shut down
services in others,” Parente said.

Price increases -- Ain't that the truth... I have a a basic flat-rate
local only (no long distance or calling features) POTS line from AT&T
in the former Ameritech region. I was paying in the ball-park of
$31/mo after taxes circa 2016. Now, I'm paying close to $46/mo after
taxes, for the same service. It seems to go up, on average, $1.5/mo
each year, with no end in sight. I like my land line, but at what
point do I say "enough is enough", and cancel the service? I'm the
only one on my block with a land line.

**********************************************************************
* Moderator's Note
*
* Don’t feel bad, Michael: here in Frontier territory, I pay over $70
* per month for a basic POTS line, which I put up with because the
* new owners of the local CableCo, which is the only Internet provider
* I can get, cut off the VoIP phone I used to use.
*
* Look on the bright side: when the power goes out, you can put up a
* sign advertising “Free Phone Calls,” and when the neighbors line up,
* you can tell them that phone calls are free, but there's a $10 fee
* to rent the telephone instrument for five minutes.
*
* Bill Horne
**********************************************************************