Who pays for 911?

Via the DMN, this article talks about how prepaid cell phone cards will soon have a fee on them to pay for 911 service. While I can understand how nobody likes to pay fees they didn't pay before, 911 can be dialed by anybody--even if you don't pay a thing for your phone. You can take a dead phone that doesn't even have a contract of any sort associated with it and dial 911.

Could the fee be done in a different way? Possibly. Instead of charging $0.50 a card, perhaps it could be a percentage of the cost, or even a deduction of so many prepaid minutes a month.

911 is a system where everyone benefits. The costs should be borne by everyone.