I have long enjoyed broadband DSL through a local company (rather than through my telco or cableco) that has provided me with features that neither telco nor cableco offers, as well as excellent personal service (the president of the company often personally responds to e-mail queries!), and virtually no downtime.
I could purchase DSL through my telco for less than half of what I pay now. But I dealt with that telco in the past for some of my clients (I used to do PC troubleshooting) and it was always an excrutiating hours-long process to accomplish the simplest of things. It seems that the service reps have to deal with all customers on a 'lowest common denominator' basis regardless of that customer's expertise. And likely the service reps have no expertise of their own, relying instead on slogging through pre-written scripts.
I have also heard from many folks about the slow-downs during peak hours, and for some, days-long downtimes. I absolutely cringe at the thought of being forced to go through my telco for DSL. But here you have it:
My ISP on Monday, December 20th, filed comments at the FCC in response to BellSouth's request to exclude independent ISPs from access to DSL (Verizon and Qwest have followed up and filed similar requests). My ISP is very concerned that if BellSouth is allowed to re-monopolize the telecommunications market, and if SBC (the telco in California) follows this precedent, virtually all consumers in California will be left with just two choices for broadband: SBC/Yahoo or Comcast. While my ISP doesn't anticipate that this would directly affect their customers in the next few years, it could signifigantly impact the ongoing viability of independent Internet Service Providers. The California ISP Association also filed comments, as has the Federation of Internet Service Providers.
BellSouth's assertion is that because they already control over 90% of the broadband DSL access in their market area, this change will have little effect on the competitive landscape, and that this change will not harm consumers. If you feel that being forced to purchase broadband DSL only from the telephone company's own ISP would harm you as a consumer and would limit your choices, you can also file comments with the FCC. As soon as I get it, I will publish more information about BellSouth's petition, and what you can do to help fight it.
I could purchase DSL through my telco for less than half of what I pay now. But I dealt with that telco in the past for some of my clients (I used to do PC troubleshooting) and it was always an excrutiating hours-long process to accomplish the simplest of things. It seems that the service reps have to deal with all customers on a 'lowest common denominator' basis regardless of that customer's expertise. And likely the service reps have no expertise of their own, relying instead on slogging through pre-written scripts.
I have also heard from many folks about the slow-downs during peak hours, and for some, days-long downtimes. I absolutely cringe at the thought of being forced to go through my telco for DSL. But here you have it:
My ISP on Monday, December 20th, filed comments at the FCC in response to BellSouth's request to exclude independent ISPs from access to DSL (Verizon and Qwest have followed up and filed similar requests). My ISP is very concerned that if BellSouth is allowed to re-monopolize the telecommunications market, and if SBC (the telco in California) follows this precedent, virtually all consumers in California will be left with just two choices for broadband: SBC/Yahoo or Comcast. While my ISP doesn't anticipate that this would directly affect their customers in the next few years, it could signifigantly impact the ongoing viability of independent Internet Service Providers. The California ISP Association also filed comments, as has the Federation of Internet Service Providers.
BellSouth's assertion is that because they already control over 90% of the broadband DSL access in their market area, this change will have little effect on the competitive landscape, and that this change will not harm consumers. If you feel that being forced to purchase broadband DSL only from the telephone company's own ISP would harm you as a consumer and would limit your choices, you can also file comments with the FCC. As soon as I get it, I will publish more information about BellSouth's petition, and what you can do to help fight it.
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