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  • From: tbuckner AT ibiblio.org
  • To: chtechcomm AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Chtechcomm] A washingtonpost.com article from: tbuckner AT ibiblio.org
  • Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:46:47 -0400 (EDT)

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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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  • [Chtechcomm] A washingtonpost.com article from: tbuckner AT ibiblio.org, tbuckner, 08/14/2005

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