Verizon Ruling May Tax Dial-Up Customers

cellocgw writes "The Boston Globe is reporting that a court ruling in Verizon's favor could effectively allow phone companies to charge dial-up users on a per-minute basis." From the article: "About 68 percent of US internet users now connect via broadband, according to the latest data from Neilsen//NetRatings. That still leaves millions of users connecting the old way, in which modems in their home call local numbers over a telephone line to access the Internet. Precisely how many people were affected by the court ruling is unknown. Good said the number was in the thousands, but that Global NAPs did not have exact numbers and could not disclose the identities of all the companies that relied on Global NAPs for dial-up numbers."

Comments

What's the status quo?

[Odiumjunkie]

Are local calls currently free for American phone users?

Either the TFA is extremely poorly written, or this story is wholly unremarkable.

Re:What's the status quo?

[Odiumjunkie]

Thank you for that excellent summary. It was more articulate and informative than TFA.

Re:Verizon can goto hell.

[ScrewMaster]

The can goto hell

I agree because, as everyone into structured programming knows, the GOTO is considered harmful.