Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Committee

[tbuckner AT ibiblio.org]

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washingtonpost.com 
 
 Broadband Is Too Important to Be Left to Cable-Phone Duopoly
 
 By Rob Pegoraro
 
  Competition in the market for broadband Internet access remains alive, 
despite what can look like a concerted campaign by big business and 
government to abolish it. The latest such steps were a Supreme Court ruling 
and a Federal Communications Commission vote that allowed cable and phone 
companies to block competitors from their networks.
 
 Be glad that competitors are still around: The phone and cable incumbents 
still fall short of many customers' needs, and it's up to other companies to 
meet them.
 
 But as long as telephone and cable TV lines are the only affordable ways to 
pipe data to and from a house, any challenger to Comcast, Verizon and their 
ilk must first go into business with them. The competitor has to rent a phone 
or cable company's wires -- lines installed under a government-sanctioned 
monopoly -- to reach any customer's home.
 
 Figuring out how that should happen has consumed thousands of billable hours 
from lawyers and lobbyists over the past decade. And so far, competition has 
taken off only in half of the cable-phone duopoly.
 
 Since the dawn of cable-modem access, such cable operators as Comcast and 
Cox have almost never allowed other companies to offer Internet access over 
their lines. The Supreme Court's "Brand X" ruling in late June codified this 
state of affairs, ruling that cable operators could not be forced to let in 
competitors.
 
 Phone companies such as Verizon, however, have been far more welcoming. 
Competing digital-subscriber-line providers did start out with the benefit of 
regulations mandating their access -- a good thing, given the early 
obstructionist behavior of many phone carriers -- but they've grown even as 
those rules have loosened.
 
 The FCC's vote two Fridays ago will end the obligation of incumbent phone 
companies to rent their DSL connections to competitors (they still must sell 
bare phone lines at a discount, allowing other firms to set up their own DSL 
services over them).
 
 Earlier FCC decisions relieved phone companies from having to lease 
particular elements of their networks and allowed them to bar competitors 
from such new networks as Verizon's Fios fiber-optic service.
 
 A choice of broadband access that's limited to the cable company and the 
phone company would be extraordinarily bad. Although such firms have done a 
remarkable job of rolling out service, they let down customers in other ways.
 
 One is price. Far too often, cable and phone companies have balked at 
cutting rates, instead increasing download speeds whether or not customers 
want the extra performance. Even the $30 a month that Verizon charges for DSL 
is more than many dial-up users want to pay. The market should have room for 
firms that charge less for a slower, but still always-on, connection.
 
 Another is reliability -- the subject of numerous complaints from Comcast, 
Cox and Verizon users. The fault rarely involves a break in cable or phone 
lines; it's the Internet service provided over them, which competitors often 
deliver more consistently.
 
 Just getting connected can be an ordeal. I've heard from many readers who 
have waited weeks for Verizon to set up their DSL; some decided to cancel 
their orders and go with competitors, even though it meant paying more. One 
of my colleagues actually had Verizon unplug his DSL service -- then offer to 
charge him more for a slower connection. A competitor quickly had him back 
online.
 
 A third failing is tech support. If you like simply being told to reboot 
your modem and computer whenever you call, even if it's an obvious service 
interruption, you'll love the incumbents.
 
 The last shortfall is features. The incumbents have been loath to go beyond 
the same basic bundle -- a handful of e-mail accounts, a personal Web page 
and so on -- that Internet providers have offered since 1999. If you want 
such extras as the right to share your connection with neighbors over a 
wireless network (then charge them for their share of the bill), you need to 
look elsewhere.
 
 Without competing providers, the broadband world would be a much poorer 
place, but the ongoing regulatory rollback doesn't seem to recognize that.
 
 Fortunately, at least one half of the cable-phone duopoly seems to have 
awakened to the benefits of competition. Not only has Verizon continued to 
sell access to its lines to other DSL providers, it's also discussing ways to 
offer access to the fiber-optic service it has zero obligation to share with 
anybody. Two providers, EarthLink and Seattle-based Speakeasy, said they're 
talking to Verizon about offering their service over Fios lines.
 
 We'd be fools to count on the continued generosity of a Verizon, though. The 
government needs to do its job as well. As a start, the FCC should turn its 
recent broadband policy statement -- a declaration that customers should be 
able to access any legal Internet site and run any legal Internet application 
-- into an enforceable regulation. The commission also needs to ease the 
progress of other forms of broadband, such as wireless data services. And it 
has to watch for abuses of the remaining rules.
 
 Broadband Internet access is far too important to be left to the cable guys 
or the phone company -- especially since it will someday eliminate the need 
for separate phone and TV service.
 
 Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrob AT twp.com.
 
 
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