One of the certainties of modern life is that the world around us always seems to be changing in some facet. This is especially true of the telecom industry. The Ma Bell world of our parents is completely gone and now a myriad of choices sits before us as individuals and businesses. Yet with all this change the telephone and internet service are two things we rarely think about as long as they work.
Perhaps it is time to think about these things not only at home or work but at places we volunteer our time and energy. Most non-profits have some sort of phone service and internet access. They probably have had the service with the current provider for years. If it isn't broke then there is nothing to fix or is there? Even if your non-profit only has one provider available there may be some savings available to the organization. The traditional phone market is still one of the most over-regulated markets in the country. Plans available to the business change fairly frequently and if your non profit is in a competitive market or on the fringes of it there may be a lower rate available.
Talk to the Treasurer who is usually looking for ways to save a few dollars and volunteer to take a copy of the bill to call or go by the local office of your provider to see what is available as options. Review the invoice for plans and rates and highlight key things like long distance, services and internet speeds along with the corresponding costs.
When starting this conversation with the sales person make sure that you let them know up front that you are on a fact finding mission and need to report back to others about the best cost options along with any required contract commitments. Most sales folks will be happy to save your company money if it means that you extend your service even if it lowers monthly revenue for the provider. This seems counter intuitive but locking your group in for an additional time span is preferential to the non-profit changing providers.
The longer it has been since your organization last reviewed its account with its provider the more likely they are still paying too much for things like long distance or paying for unused or out of date services. In the area of internet service speeds the available speed is usually higher than it was just a 2 to 3 years ago. If the current plan is that old it is quite possible that an increase in speed is available for less money. This is the ultimate win-win for a non profit. You not only save money on cash outflow but likely increase productivity for that part time staff person or volunteer who is sitting there watching the hourglass go round while waiting for the page to load on a browser.
So volunteer to save your organization some money they can better use to help others. You will spend a couple hours but the improved lives of countless others will benefit all of us.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Friday, August 7, 2015
Internet and Telephone for the 21st Century, Goals and Part One of the Puzzle
The recent release by the FCC of rules regarding the change from copper to fiber is a small step in the right direction. American's need upgraded service since too many are still on an aging copper systems for phone and internet. If they have DSL it does not qualify as high speed. The real question is how do we as a nation accomplish this feat.
First we need to decide how long it should take to achieve this changeover. At the current pace it appears that the end of this century is not as likely as certain places freezing over first. What is a reasonable goal. The realistic goal of equipment manufacturing and manpower in a lean telecom industry would point toward a long time frame of 30 or 40 years. This is far to long. A more reasonable goal from an economic standpoint would be 10 to 15 years for 80 percent of Americans and another 10 for the last 20 percent.
The second part of the equation is how to accomplish this task.
The telecom industry is still mired in the first half of the 20th Century when the myriad of byzantine regulations, tax rules and deals were cut that made Ma Bell a government sanctioned monopoly.
The starting point for a discussion would be to change the whole way telecom companies book and depreciate the change from copper to fiber. Currently those rates can vary from just a few years to decades. What we need to do is change the way the phone companies can deduct these expenses for tax purposes and perhaps also for their financial statements.
The way to push the upgrade from copper to fiber through as quickly as possible is to make the cost of the change not as a new purchase of new assets but as an expense that can be deducted when the the new equipment is put into service. When the phone company turns a whole area from copper to fiber and gives universal service of fiber to the home or business then all monies expended for that part of the project can be expensed by the phone company.
The size of the area could be as little as a neighborhood or subdivision. A key point is that no area may be bypassed due to ease of installation or economic reasons. The companies can not be allowed to 'cherry pick' the upgrades. This means that central office equipment can be deducted only when all lines in the office are converted from copper to fiber whereas the equipment and lines in the field could be deducted once all households and businesses in that area are converted to fiber. This provides incentives for quickly changing whole regions while giving quick recovery as segments of fiber are brought on-line.
The benefits of whole towns and areas gaining access to real high speed lines in the 100mb range would be in economic development, content availability and sustainability of infrastructure.
The key take away point is the change of the conversion of copper to fiber to a maintenance expense rather than a capital investment.
First we need to decide how long it should take to achieve this changeover. At the current pace it appears that the end of this century is not as likely as certain places freezing over first. What is a reasonable goal. The realistic goal of equipment manufacturing and manpower in a lean telecom industry would point toward a long time frame of 30 or 40 years. This is far to long. A more reasonable goal from an economic standpoint would be 10 to 15 years for 80 percent of Americans and another 10 for the last 20 percent.
The second part of the equation is how to accomplish this task.
The telecom industry is still mired in the first half of the 20th Century when the myriad of byzantine regulations, tax rules and deals were cut that made Ma Bell a government sanctioned monopoly.
The starting point for a discussion would be to change the whole way telecom companies book and depreciate the change from copper to fiber. Currently those rates can vary from just a few years to decades. What we need to do is change the way the phone companies can deduct these expenses for tax purposes and perhaps also for their financial statements.
The way to push the upgrade from copper to fiber through as quickly as possible is to make the cost of the change not as a new purchase of new assets but as an expense that can be deducted when the the new equipment is put into service. When the phone company turns a whole area from copper to fiber and gives universal service of fiber to the home or business then all monies expended for that part of the project can be expensed by the phone company.
The size of the area could be as little as a neighborhood or subdivision. A key point is that no area may be bypassed due to ease of installation or economic reasons. The companies can not be allowed to 'cherry pick' the upgrades. This means that central office equipment can be deducted only when all lines in the office are converted from copper to fiber whereas the equipment and lines in the field could be deducted once all households and businesses in that area are converted to fiber. This provides incentives for quickly changing whole regions while giving quick recovery as segments of fiber are brought on-line.
The benefits of whole towns and areas gaining access to real high speed lines in the 100mb range would be in economic development, content availability and sustainability of infrastructure.
The key take away point is the change of the conversion of copper to fiber to a maintenance expense rather than a capital investment.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
False Tax Filings and the future of the current tax system
The rush to computerization of the filing of income tax returns has resulted in savings in cost and increases in accuracy for both the government and the taxpayer. The recent suspension by Turbo tax in on line filing has brought to light a weakness in the system of identifying and securing taxpayer identification and funds. The purpose of those filing false returns is to gain access to funds from the government through refunds and credits. It appears that the Federal Government is in better shape to deal with these false filings but the states are lagging behind. For either group it appears that it may be time to rethink the complexity of the current system which creates the burden of massive filings and opens the door to massive fraud. Perhaps with a much simpler system which did not require filings by individual taxpayer the opportunity for fraud could be substantially reduced to the point that it would pay for folks to try to commit the act. This could take the form of a national sales tax with the elimination of the income tax for individuals or a flat rate taken from paychecks or some new and innovative point of taxation this scourge could be stopped and the cost of collection lowered for both the government and the taxpayer
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