In areas where a phone line was previously required for Internet service, SC Broadband now offers the ability cancel your phone line and switch to Gig Broadband Only. Deciding if a Gig Broadband Only plan is right for you may depend on how reliable cellular phone service is where you live.
In most cases, SC Broadband customers will save money when they switch to Gig Broadband Only. Since most people rarely use their landline phone, it makes sense to drop the line and the associated taxes and fees that are required by the government. You may also have phone features you’re not using like voicemail and long distance on your account that could equal even more savings.
However, in rural communities of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, cell service can sometimes be marginal. Even if you can make an emergency call via a cell phone, that call might be routed to the wrong dispatch center based on what tower handles the call. A wired SC Broadband landline telephone is dependable, since a wired phone has backup power to our facilities and a physical address tied to directly emergency services. If the security of landline phone to reach loved ones or emergency services is important to you, it may make sense to maintain your landline.
Equal Access rules give the consumer the choice of selecting any long distance carrier to provide toll services. SC Broadband has competitive rates on long distance service, which is provided over the switched telephone network. We have made changes to move away from the common and problematic VOIP services that many carriers use. We have three plans for both business and residential subscribers to choose from. If you choose another carrier, you will need to make sure that they have made the arrangements to bill you for those calls, as they will not be included in your monthly SC Broadband statement.
Federal Charges
Federal Universal Service Charge
The Federal Government has a policy to promote telephone service to all Americans at affordable and reasonably comparable rates. All telecommunications companies are required to pay this money toward a federal program that assists high cost rural telephone companies in proving service in rural areas at about the same rates as urban areas and provides phone and Internet service to schools, libraries and rural health-care facilities. The fee is charged as a percentage (currently 17.4%) of all federally authorized telephone charges.
Federal Access Charge
Also known as the Subscriber Line Charge (SLC) and the End User Customer Line Charge (EUCL), this is an FCC authorized charge for network access. The charge helps pay for the operation of the local telephone network and covers costs that are not already recovered by the local phone services monthly charges. This charge was meant to keep basic local rates stable at the time of the Bell system breakup. It helps cover phone companies’ fixed costs to operate and maintain the local phone network. It is currently capped at $6.50 for a primary residence/business line (April 1, 2012). Multi-line business customers pay $9.20 per line for end user common line charge (EUCL).
Federal Excise Tax
This tax was created as a luxury tax to pay for the Spanish-American War and is currently assessed at 3% of all billed local services. All proceeds are used for general Federal Government purposes.
State & Local Charges
E911 Surcharges
An E-911 emergency services charge is levied on each landline. These taxes are collected by the service provider and remitted to the state to fund emergency services.
If you’re the operator of a Hosted PBX Voice system, it’s vital your phone system can accurately report the location of each phone’s physical address to 911 operators, down to the building, floor, and room number of each phone. To set this location on your existing IP phones or to update the physical location of an IP phone you’ve moved, follow the instructions in the video below.
For assistance with configuring your HPBX Voice system, please contact our Technical Support Team at 435-263-0000. Or you can email support@scbroadband.com to set up a time for a technician to contact you.
If you do not have a dial tone, hear static, or your phone is “busy” when others call:
- Unplug all of your phone equipment, including satellite TV box, phones, fax, and modem, from the power outlet as well as the phone jack.
- Plug in ONE hardwired phone (if you have one) ONLY.
- If your call works properly, you probably have a faulty piece of hardware. Plug in each piece of equipment, one at a time, to determine which is at fault.
- If that doesn’t work, call SC Broadband Technical Support.
If you hear static and are also a DSL High Speed Internet customer:
- Turn your modem off.
- If the static goes away, either your DSL filter is missing, installed backwards or is faulty.
- Check your line for a DSL Filter. If not present, install one. The filter should plug in to the jack, then your phone will plug in to the filter.
- If that doesn’t work, call SC Broadband Technical Support.
Please visit our Voicemail Instructions page.