-=> On 05-18-06  22:08,  Bj”rn Felten <=-
 -=> spoke to Ross Cassell about "Free" emergency number s <=-

 RC> Yes we do, the system has to derive its funding from somewhere,
 RC> therefore 911 fees are applied as a small tax to the monthly phone bill.
 RC> On my monthly cell phone bill, its 61 cents.

 BF> In Sweden we have more cell phone accounts than citizens 
 BF> (about 1.1 per) and more than 2 land line phone accounts. 
 BF> If the situation in the US is approximately the same, that 
 BF> means your 61 cents amounts to a total of abt. 600 million 
 BF> dollars. Surely your 911 service cannot cost that much?

  Are you  sure?

  Assume that the people who operate the receiving system are paid $15
  per hour, which is barely a poverty level wage -- and certainly not
  one that gets you skilled workers.   Each receiving system is operated
  24/7 or 168 hours per week.   Without allowing for frills such as time
  off, vacations etc. that comes to $360 per day or $10,800 per month
  per station.  Hence your figure of 600 million is not enough to fund
  more than 60,000 stations.  Since there are multiple stations in every
  city, it should be clear that the 61 cents is no where near enough to
  provide funds for only the initial contact person -- not to mention
  all of the highly trained responders that the 911 system might call
  upon, and not to mention the equipment and its maintenance.

 
 RC> No they are not, they simply get funded via other tax revenue your
 RC> government collects and you dont see the itemization as to which portion
 RC> of your taxes you pay personally get channeled over to it.

 BF> Well, I guess the general idea here is, that the emergency service
 BF> is a  service that should be available to everyone -- with or 
 BF> without a phone (there are phones available to anyone, even 
 BF> those without their own), even foreigners that visit our 
 BF> countries with their own cell phones, so our local TelCos 
 BF> can't charge any special tax.

   No problem with that statement, it is true here as well.

 BF> And any service that should be available to all, 
 BF> generally is paid in full from the "common pot", i.e. by 
 BF> the regular taxes here.

  One way or the other, public services have to be paid for.

                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)



... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 22:41:01, 18 May 2006
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