[asterisk-biz] USF payments

[SIP]

Our primary termination/origination carrier (Vitelity) has recently 
decided to start charging us a USF percentage on every payment we make 
to them. Keep in mind, 90% of the money we pay them is for 
administrative fees, not for origination or termination charges on any 
of the several hundred DIDs which get very little usage.

Our other two carriers don't do this, but I'm wondering whether or not 
they're out of the ordinary, or if it's just Vitelity.

It seems as though USF, which is a pay-for-use fee, should not be 
allowed to be assessed on administrative and non-traffic-related 
commerce. It strays away from being a USF charge at that point and 
becomes a general 'service charge' for non USF-related purposes.

Have people run into this with other carriers?

N.