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CA Utility Commission to Regulate DSL
mgrimes writes "According to this story on Internet.com, the California Public Utilities Commission has ruled that it has the authority to regulate DSL-based Internet services in addition to the FCC. Could be a good step in creating more competition in the broadband market... but then again given the PUC's track record, maybe we're all in for rolling DSL blackouts."
Personally I think this is great news. I live in Portland, Oregon, and keep watching my DSL provider (a local serve-to-certain-apartment-complex provider with mad bandwidth) take it up the butt by Verizon whenever they need line upgrades, since Verizon owns the actual copper. I'm all for competition, but Verizon is beating the life out of my DSL provider, and offers crap compared to these guys. Hopefully CA will do a good job with this, and it will catch on.
OK. So you're rather good at crafting the obvious flamebait. Now go ahead and take a whack at the other side of the argument. How do you create a competative marketplace with a service that already exists as monopoly (partly because of the nature of the resources involved)?
I would say that most of the worries of to regulate or not to regulate DSL service and CABLE(data) service will go away in the next few years.. Why you ask?
Everything is becoming a service.. IP networking, Phone Connectivity. Video(cable tv). What does this mean?
Simply you are going to see companies soon competing for the right to bring bandwith to your door. While the services you choose can be offered by anyone.
Why not have your Telephone Service offered by NuPhone(fictious) with any US based telephone number you like.
Your Cable will come from your choice of any number of Television(formerly cable companies) providers(if not stations themselves).
Why is this? Simple... Soon not only will we have DSL everywhere and CABLE lines.. but also we'll 3g and someday 4g wireless networks which can provide all the bandwith for every service we need.
Now granted local phone companies will definitely fight for thier right to be compensated for local calls, but you have to understand there is nothing stopping a new VoIP company from offering service now or in a few years to customers and providing them with a phone # that can be reached by anyone and it never need touch the their local telco CO. Everything is turning into service to be run over the bandwith providers.. thats the future.. theres no changing it..
Lastly picture this.. you have a 3G phone provided by say... cingular(just an example).. they give you a number(202-456-5000). That number would be your Personal Contact Identafier.. Someone dials that number and they can reach you where ever you are based on what you set.. Is your phone on? calls route to your cellular.. is it off? are you at home? calls route via landline bandwith pipes to your house and runs through your old POTS lines to your house phones.. or are ya not around? calls get routed to a Voice Mail system that u can of course access from your house phones, your mobile phones or your PC via the web.
think about it.. its coming.. sooner than you think...
My friend extremely versed in the Telco-land, tells me a little while back, SWBell had the neat idea of extending the fiber running to the DSLAM for DSL service into the homes directly terminated w/an OC3 connection. Then they could provide cable like visual services--movies, ads, etc... at much higher speeds/resolutions.
:^(
He said recently, they stopped this idea, because as soon as they release it as a telco-service, the FCC says everyone else gets to offer the same thing, and SWBell has to give them (competitors) discounted rates so they can profit.
I'm all for the competition, and a free-market society, but the competition doesn't "own" the lines, so they can't do R&D -- nor do they have half the $$$ that the "Big Dogs" do. What really ends up happening, is the consumers get the shaft because the "Big Dogs" are too greedy to share their precious R&D toys.
Don't really see a solution to this one anytime soon.