  RobIn Deo speramus, God Bless the USAPremium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
kudos:2 | Why... The reason why the baby bells are under regulation is because they've shown in the past that they cannot play nicely when they have free reign.. why in the past few years have we been giving them more control and less regulation?
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 | | | Re: Why... said by Rob:The reason why the baby bells are under regulation is because they've shown in the past that they cannot play nicely when they have free reign.. why in the past few years have we been giving them more control and less regulation? Because phone service is no longer a monopoly. There are plenty of competitors available - from cable to wireless to CLECS. There is no longer a need for regulation. Especially since the new competitors are not regulated.
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| | RobIn Deo speramus, God Bless the USAPremium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
kudos:2 | Re: Why... said by fAcEtIOUs:said by Rob:The reason why the baby bells are under regulation is because they've shown in the past that they cannot play nicely when they have free reign.. why in the past few years have we been giving them more control and less regulation? Because phone service is no longer a monopoly. There are plenty of competitors available - from cable to wireless to CLECS. There is no longer a need for regulation. Especially since the new competitors are not regulated. It doesn't matter. They still can't be left alone. They are like children. Look at Verizon and what they did with the USF Fee when it was removed. Yea they removed it, but after an uprorar.
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| | | | That isn't true in all areas. My cable is so bad that you cannot use any VOIP due to tremendous packet loss. DSL is only through Verizon here. There are not "plenty of competitors" in all areas. | |
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| | | | | Re: Why... said by jdracer47:That isn't true in all areas. My cable is so bad that you cannot use any VOIP due to tremendous packet loss. DSL is only through Verizon here. There are not "plenty of competitors" in all areas. Same here in Lake Charles, LA. You'd be "ignert" to rely on cable to provide VOIP phone service. It was Cox, but now it's Sundden-un-link. It was bad when it was Cox. now it's non-existent. It's either the telco, or cell phone service. | |
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| |  ifarrell
join:2000-08-10
Willow Spring, NC
1 edit | said by fAcEtIOUs:said by Rob:The reason why the baby bells are under regulation is because they've shown in the past that they cannot play nicely when they have free reign.. why in the past few years have we been giving them more control and less regulation? Because phone service is no longer a monopoly. There are plenty of competitors available - from cable to wireless to CLECS. There is no longer a need for regulation. Especially since the new competitors are not regulated. But it is a Monopoly in many areas.
Unless you count VoIP which isn't exactly competition of like, then BellSouth has no competition.
Also, like VoIP, Wireless isn't exactly reliable either or for that matter affordable to some families.
For VoIP you need Broadband Service (that adds a minimum of $20 a month and that's if it's on special) and Wireless is typically $30 a month for a pretty much useless plan. At least a Land Line you can get for less that $20 no frills.
In North Carolina, specifically the Triangle region, there is no other Clec on the area that competes with them on a like for like basis.
The only reason they want to do this is to hike prices so that low income families can no longer afford service.
Time Warner Cable is under similar restrictions and so is PSNC. | |
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| | | | ILECs love to claim that Cable Digital Phone and VoIP services are not reliable in terms of E911 outtages. If there claim is true ( since they are making the claim, we will stipulate it's true ) then there really isn't competition and therefore POTS shoud continue to be regulated in the interest of the pubic good. | |
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| |  davoice
join:2000-08-12
Saxapahaw, NC
 ·Comporium
| said by fAcEtIOUs:Because phone service is no longer a monopoly. There are plenty of competitors available - from cable to wireless to CLECS. There is no longer a need for regulation. Especially since the new competitors are not regulated. If phone service is no longer a monopoly, could you please come to my town in Person County, North Carolina and tell me who my other choices are?
We're an exurb of Raleigh/Durham... there may be competition in Raleigh but there's none here.
There is no cable phone service here. There are no CLECs. And there is no wireless coverage - not even *analog* cellular - in 35% of the county.
(That's being generous... b/c I'm getting that 35% based on my 5 watt bag phone that I still carry... not my CDMA only handset issued by Alltel.)
Even in the 65% of the county that has cellular coverage, it's iffy. I can't use my Alltel handset inside the house. My firsthand experience w/ the cell coverage here is pretty deep. I'm part of the group who convinced Cingular that they needed to expand from 1 cell tower in the center of town covering just the city limits to a few more in the county.
Go here and scroll down to the bottom:
»www.hycolake.com/CingularProject.htm
The green triangles on the map represent where there is presently NO coverage. Convincing them to being coverage out there took some serious arm twisting and phone calls from some very influential state legislators who happen to to have houses on the lake and can't get coverage at their houses.
Oh... and Bellsouth is the local phone provider in the Hyco Lake area. How convenient that they had no wireless coverage in the area where they offer local dialtone but almost all the area in the county that is Sprint/Embarq territory has great Cingular coverage. Oh... and there's NO Sprint PCS coverage anywhere in our entire county. So Sprint's no princess either.
}Davoice | |
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| | |  roamer1sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
1 edit | Re: Why... said by davoice:There is no cable phone service here. There are no CLECs. And there is no wireless coverage - not even *analog* cellular - in 35% of the county. How is DSL availability? (I'm guessing "rather poor to nonexistent".)
This type of situation is one reason why blanket statewide dereg of ILECs makes no sense -- blanket dereg not only deregulates areas that have significant competition, it also deregulates areas that have none. Deregulating on a rate center-by-rate center basis makes much more sense.
I'm part of the group who convinced Cingular that they needed to expand from 1 cell tower in the center of town covering just the city limits to a few more in the county. I'm quite surprised that it's Cingular and not Alltel or US Cellular building out, given Cingular's all-but-refusal to fix other large coverage gaps (southeast Tennessee) and Alltel's and USCC's fairly good track record in rural areas in NC.
Oh... and Bellsouth is the local phone provider in the Hyco Lake area. Is that area served out oof Milton? If so, BellSouth isn't there anymore, as they sold that area to Madison River/Mebtel (of Vonage-blocking fame) last year, mainly since it's in a Verizon LATA (Danville, VA) and BellSouth couldn't extend its normal network into that area, leaving it all but isolated from the rest of BellSouth.
-SC
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| | fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | Though that may be true, the wireline telephone service is still a utility and a life line service. Cellular, and the toy-telephone service called voip is not a lifeline service at this time.
As long as telephone remains the true wireline service in this country, then telephone needs to remain regulated as a utility.
At this point, the only "TRUE" wireline alternative is DIGITAL SWITCHED cable telephone service - not VOIP either. There has to be ONE service in this country that is a lifeline service. So far, that's bell.
Like love or hate bell, they are still tried and true dial tone that you KNOW will be available when you need it.
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| KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | basic pots is a Utility and must be regulated or the telcos greedy investors and stock holders will have you paying 10 dollars a minute for a local call in any area without competition.
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|  Michieru2zzz zzz zzzPremium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL | As someone who just started reading about the free market enterprise let them deregulate but under no circumstances are they allowed to block competition.
They want to deregulate to have a competitive edge and I am bothered by the fact that the snippet says over rate hikes. As a utility prices would have to remain affordable to everyone. So if they want to deregulate the basic phone service package is not to be touched. Here basic phone service is 12.95 and it should remain that way for any low income or high income american. Fee's and taxes are another matter. | |
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 viperpa33sWhy Me?Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL | Why should BellSouth get a free pass quote:
Also, BellSouth, unlike its competitors, has to submit quarterly reports on problems with hookups, service and response times for repairs. It also has to meet service quality standards and respond to consumer complaints, as well as get state approval for rate changes.
Minus getting approval for rate changes, I don't see why the rest is a bad thing and BellSouth is making like it is. Cable companies should be subjected under the same scrutiny as well. All you need to do is read BBR and the problems that allot of people have with either the Telco or cable company.
I remember the famous excuse given to a person who had a connection problem is, it's the computers fault.
We need some kind of oversight or else companies likes Verizon can do what they want knowing that nothing can be done about it. You give a company free reign and they will take 5 miles.
I also don't agree that 60% broadband in a particular area (town,city) is satisfactory broadband penetration. The states allowing the Telco's and the cable companies to do this should be ashamed of themselves.
The airlines, food industry, automobile industry, power companies, media companies and so on, are all under some kind of government regulation or oversight. So why should BellSouth get a free pass? | |
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Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| carrot, but no stick? What incentive do regulators have to drop QOS requirements?
BellCrap's good word?
HA!
So far, I can only see reasons for MORE oversight, not LESS!
1. No commitment to drastically increasing broadband speeds over 1st generation dsl.
2. Meger activity which would only consolidate potential competition and aggregate cost savings to profit: lawyers, corporate executive (white collar jobs) and lay off thousands in overlap areas
3. Rate increases and other poor decisions this company makes are not in the public interest
In other words, GO TO HELL!
And.. I'd RAISE the bar for getting into video to boot! | |
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| | Great in the front end. They have the monopoly on the infrastructure they will drop prices below wholesale and with their deep pockets and USF funds wait out the competition. Once they have run most out of business they will start slowly easing prices up until they are higher than what they are now.
To BellSouth this is just a long term investment. | |
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| Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Great in the front end. All you have to do is look at how they handled the USF fee to see why they need to be regulated. In the Greenville/Spartanburg area we have no competition. Charter cable sucks so scratch VOIP. Sure we have cell phones but rates are high, you have to commit no matter how bad service is so BellSouth is still the only phone service many have here. | |
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| | competition? When I sign up for for new local landline service and I'm asked "who do you want to provide that service?" Is when there is TRUE competition. Until then they are a monopoly and should be required to be regulated and treated as such! | |
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mworks
join:2006-06-13
Faison, NC | An example why people abreviate bellsouth as BS Bellsouth needs someone to police them.
I wasn't able to get a phone without paying a prior renters bill because we had the same last name. They assumed the previous renter was family. Even if they were family the telco shouldn't hold it against me.
Of course, Bellsouth is the ONLY service provider.
I went with cable internet and vonage. Take that Bellsouth. | |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | tax bribes There is only one way this can make sense to any politician sort of bribes, we BellSouth get more money, you get more since your taxes are a % of what our customers are charged, and you the govt wins. | |
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