This report is a steaming pile of crap - it uses circular arguments to support
the notion that deregulation of telecommunications is bad for the public.
Never mind that I now pay less for my fixed VOIP line from MagicJack for a
YEAR, than I was paying for the regulated Cox Cable VOIP service for a MONTH.
The author is so lost that he cannot understand why the big Telcos support
deregulation of the highly competitive VOIP services, AND revocation of heavy
handed regulation of the Internet by the FCC.
The author claims that the telcos have plenty of lawyers and like regulation,
as it helps to limit competition. Yet they played a major role in deregulating
competitors in 36 states?
Confused?
You Bet!
On Jan 1, 2018, at 9:36 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Very interesting report, which focuses only on VoIP service, as if it should
remain singled out as voice telephone was, in the pre-Internet era. I
disagree with that basic premise, i.e. that VoIP is fundamentally different
from what consumers should expect from their broadband service in general.
But other than that, the points are well taken. For instance:
"This study argues ...
Yes. The difference being that at least in principle, consumers should have a
much greater choice of VoIP providers than they used to have, for POTS.
However, it's true that the playing field is not level. POTS had all sorts of
rules on availability/reliability, that VoIP does not have.
*But*, retaining Title II classification of broadband service, forbearance or
not, is why we shouldn't have to single out VoIP at all. It is becoming an
ever more difficult argument to make, that voice telephony is any more
critical than broadband service in general. For most people, it's not. Not
anymore.
There's an overabundance of prose, as one has to expect in these studies, but
I think the prose could be reduced considerably by sticking to the technical
realities here. Voice telephony is but one application of "advanced telecom
services," and its proper regulation became implicit as soon as the FCC
re-classified broadband service under Title II. (In the dialup era, that Tile
II classification also subsumed access to ISPs.)
That's where broadband classification needs to remain. Or at the very least,
some credible mandates, as opposed to the "trust the wolves" attitude of the
current corrupt FCC.