Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Verizon Ruling May Tax Dial-Up Customers

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the no-pipe-for-them dept.

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."

2 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. DirectTV Tivos and Series 1 Tivo's affected also by jucevic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So am I now going to have to pay an additional amount every time my Tivo calls home? I have DSL already, but havn't taken the time to hack my DirectTV boxes. Is the Series 1 Tivo with a life time subscription that I gave my parrents now going to cost them a monthly fee?

  2. **NOT** 68% by kopo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The author of the article didn't understand his research. He said that according to Nielsen Ratings, 68% of US internet users connect with broadband. That's not true.
    The Nielsen information for 2005 says that 68% of Americans use the internet - not necessarily through broadband. No statistics are given for broadband specifically, but they're definitely much lower. According to this article, US broadband usage will reach about 62% in 2010, and was 29% in 2004. I don't know about current stats, but it's probably near 35-40%.