In the early years of VoIP telephone service, the only costs associated with placing a call were the regular month to month fees and maybe long distance fees for calls you made. As VoIP has grown and become a mainstream technology, governments and regulatory agencies have begun mandating taxes and fees like those found with traditional telephone service.
Below are the current fees E Street charges for VoIP service.
e911
Every phone number is required by federal law to have access to emergency 911 service. We charge $1.50 per line to cover the costs of maintaining e911 availability.
We also charge a 75 cent tax per line where e911 is enabled to cover various local e911 taxes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
USF
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is another government mandated fee that is used to offset the costs necessary to provide telephone service to remote and rural areas of the United States. This fee can change quarterly (either increasing or decreasing) depending upon the needs of the programs funded by the USF.
You can find the current fee here: https://www.fcc.gov/omd/contribution-factor.html
Reference information on Federal USF can be found at the FCC website: https://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/universal_service/
~~~~~~~~~~~
Upstream Telco Cost recovery fees
“Upstream Telco Cost Recovery Fees” consist of charges passed through to E Street by upstream phone carriers to recover costs associated with the use of your VoIP telephone service. The fees are to recover some of the costs incurred to comply with local, state an federal governmental mandates and programs. This includes, but is not limited to:
– E911 service fees from state and local entities
– Local number portability and number porting
– Number pooling
– Franchise taxes for international and interstate access
– City level surcharges, recycling fees, license fees and other fees
– Interstate service and revenue charges from applicable states
We pass through these fees which typically are around $.95 cents per telephone number per month.
~~~~~~~~~~~
State Taxes
Increasingly your state jurisdictions are collecting taxes for data services. Where applicable these fees may be passed through to subscribers.
