Comments on: FCC: Local phone companies must connect Net calls

VoIP industry applauds ruling that says local providers can't refuse to carry calls on wholesaler-owned broadband lines.

[westrajc]

Local Government In The Crosshairs

Local governements are increasingly being excluded from controls meant to protect their citizens and rightful revenues from the giant Telcom/Cable providers. The following link provides interesting information for those concerned about this subject:

http://www.thetruthontelecomreform.org

[dargon19888]

What are you talking about!

You must be a company shill.

As someone who has dealt with rural carriers in South Carolina, I can tell you first hand that many in the rural areas suffer from substandard communications.

Lack of cell coverage, and outdated switches at the CO.

We all pay in to a fund so that these companies will maintain and upgrade rural areas to the same or equivilent services that you can expect in a major metro area.

It isn't happening. And if it takes the FCC saying that they must allow VOIP to connect to their local switches, then so be it! It will at least force them to upgrade their infrastructue!

[disco-legend-zeke]

local telcos are the GREEDIEST local regulators are the GRAFTIEST

The rural telcos are clinging desperately to the inflated revenues they generate.

The larger carriers are not totally innocent, for example, QWEST sold digital lines for $110 each to ISPs who needed them for V.90 modems. When they decided to enter the marketplace themselves, they dropped the price to $18.75, but filed a new tariff (for identical service) so that ISP companies were not able to benefit from the price protection clauses in their contracts.

(as an aside to this.. Quest is now bailing out of the dialup market)

another example, a certain unnamed rural co-op does not sell wholesale, nor allow competition for dialup. it gets worse... the money form the "non-profit" was taken by the managers and used to open a for-profit phone company which had the same restrictive policies..

bad enough yet? this same company applied for and received a federal multi-million-dollar GRANT earmarked to provide rural broadband. So what did they do? they spent all the money laying fiber optics conduit in town where there are already three competing broadband carriers.

and a third one, just for fun. VERIZON is holding up carriers, demanding as much as three million dollars per LCA to switch area code (500) phone numbers to them. Why? unlike other local numbers, 500 numbers have very low "rental" costs. Verizon uses these cheaper numbers for the "ONSTAR" service, and wants more of them, so they are attempting to put the owners of these numbers out of business in order to grab them for themself.

In almost every market, the cable companies and telcos have fought (usually successfully, given their budgets for this) to prevent or rescend all unbundling requirements.

the government's oversight is severely crippled by the tremendous lobbying and financial support to candidates (no its not a bribe... *laugh*) the FCC has some insulation from all this chicanery, and i applaud this ruling.