Taxes, Surcharges, and Other Fees
All state and local taxes (i.e., gross receipts tax, sales tax, and municipal utilities tax) are listed as separate line items on the Customer’s bill and are not included in any quoted rates. Masiero bills and collects these fees from customers receiving service from us within the territorial limits of such municipality. It shall be the responsibility of the Customer to pay any such taxes that subsequently become applicable retroactively. Masiero is required to adjust its rates and charges or impose additional rates and charges on its Customers in order to recover amounts required by governmental or quasi-governmental authorities to collect from or pay to others in support of statutory or regulatory programs. Descriptions of Fees (connectivity charges) Tax surcharges are government mandated. USF charges and other fees are connectivity charges which are then passed on to the end-user.
Access Recovery Fee (ARF)
The FCC allows local telephone companies to assess this charge to recover a portion of the costs incurred in the provisioning, connection and maintenance of telephone service to connect customer’s businesses. ARF is assessed monthly at 3.75% for all product types capable or supporting the transmission of voice and data services.
End User Common Line Charge (EUCL)
EUCL is a monthly recurring fee charged for the use of any Masiero service, regardless of technology, that can be configured to allow access to the public switched telephone network, directly or indirectly. EUCL is assessed monthly at $27.35 for each type of Dynamic Ethernet and $.67 for each SIP Trunk or Concurrent Call Path that is capable of transmitting voice and data services.
Local Number Portability (LNP)
The FCC allows local telephone companies to recover certain costs for providing telephone number portability to its customers. Telephone number portability allows residential and business customers to retain, at the same location, their existing local telephone numbers when switching from one local telephone service provider to another. The LNP Charge is a fixed, monthly charge. LNP is assessed monthly at $21.00 for each type of Dynamic Ethernet and $.90 for each SIP Trunk or Concurrent Call Path.
911 Surcharge
The 911 surcharge is assessed on all local customers and is billed on a per line basis. The monies collected from this surcharge are remitted back to the state/county for use in funding the 911 or Enhanced Emergency Systems. The rates varies by state and/or county.
Universal Service Fee (USF)
Because telephones provide a vital link to emergency services, to government services and to surrounding communities, it has been our nation’s policy to promote telephone service to all households since this service began in the 1930s. The USF helps to make phone service affordable and available to all Americans, including consumers with low incomes, those living in areas where the costs of providing telephone service is high, schools and libraries and rural health care providers. Congress has mandated that all telephone companies providing interstate service must contribute to the USF. Masiero passes this contribution costs on to our customers in the form of a line item, often called the “Federal Universal Service Fee” or “Universal Connectivity Fee”.
In connection with the FCC’s Universal Service Orders, Masiero must pay a percentage of its retail revenues to support the Universal Service Fund (USF). Masiero will assess the USF to its customers via a surcharge applicable against all retail interstate and international telecommunications charges, including usage and non-usage charges. This surcharge is in addition to standard usage charges and any applicable service charges and surcharges associated with the Masiero service. Masiero’s Universal Service Fee factor will match the relevant quarterly Universal Service Contribution Factor approved by the FCC and found at www.fcc.gov plus a 1.5% USF Administrative Fee.
Federal USF (FUSF)
The Federal USF surcharge may be either integrated into the charge or identified as a separate line item. For example, if the End User Access Charge (EUCL) for Dynamic Ethernet is assessed as a base fee of $19.50 per line, and the USF assessment is 16.4%, the actual amount presented to the customer will be “$22.70” (calculation = $19.50(1+USF Factor) = $19.50(1.164) = $22.70).