HR 4445 Reciprocal Compensation (fwd)

[multics () ruserved com]

I've been thinking about this and I think the CLECS and ISP's might be
benefitted by the passing of this.  I think this bill will do more to
hurt the ILECS then help them in the long run.

One of the things blocking CLECS from offering local dial tone for
residential service is the reciprical compensation.  The single biggest
item contributing to it is internet dialup.  As an example of what I mean:

AT&T had been heavily advertizing to get people to select AT&T for
local dialtone in my area.  The ads all say unlimited, but the fine
print limits this to 75 hours a month.  I would suspect the limit is
due to the amount of usage from modem users dialing into the internet.
If this bill passes, I suspect AT&T will take advantage of that and
ammend their ads to 75 hours, intenet dialup unlimited.  Why should
someone who spends alot of online hours on the internet even consider
AT&T with the 75 hours/month limit?  Once this bill passes, any company
interested in offering local dialtone wil no longer have to worry about
internet connect time causing large reciprical compensation.

I suspect AT&T and other CLECS who are providing or interested in
providing local dialtone to residential customers are backing this bill.
The short term result may be bad for any CLEC depending on the income,
but those that are looking to providde local phone service will find
this a great benefit and as a result this is more likely to lead to
local dialtone competition against the ILEC.  Which will lead to lower
costs for phone lines ;)  As best I can see, the ILECs tend to be the
more incompetent competitors and maybe they will finally put themselves
out of business with this encouragement to their compitition.

If I had the money, I'd start some planning now to put up my own CO's
and lay my own copper/fibre/etc for providing local services.




-- 
Richard Shetron  multics () ruserved com multics () acm rpi edu  NO UCE
What is the Meaning of Life?      There is no meaning,
It's just a consequence of complex carbon based chemistry; don't worry about it
The Super 76, "Free Aspirin and Tender Sympathy", Las Vegas Strip.