Canadian Regulator CRTC Saves Independent ISPs

fmenard123 writes "The Canadian telecommunications regulator, the CRTC, has affirmed in a decision released on March 3rd 2008 that DSL wholesale and Cable Modem wholesale will continue (PDF) until such time as a meaningful competitive source of supply of wholesale facilities develops. Aside from preserving the status-quo, the CRTC has also determined that unaggregated ADSL access (DSL wholesale for competitors who self-supply their facilities into telephone company central offices) is an essential service given the lack of unbundling for sub-loops. The CRTC ordered phone companies to re-price unaggregated DSL wholesale at forward-looking costs plus a mark-up of no more than 15%, opening the door for a significant reduction in the rates ISPs pay to the telephone companies for access to DSL wholesale. This decision has interesting implications for the US, in which the FCC was not able to overcome the legal attacks against its Computer II regulatory framework. Perhaps ISPs in the US need to look north to try to make their case again."

Comments

Re:Wholesale Cable?

[billcopc]

Rogers, as much as I hate them, seem to offer a pretty stable service. I had no technical problems with them when I was in London, except for their silly torrent throttling, but that's what my overseas server is for :)

The hard part with Rogers is customer service - they suck at it. Once you can convince them to come connect you, as long as you're self-sufficient after that point, you likely won't have any issues. Well, until you want to disconnect of course.

Rogers could easily be the best ISP ever, if only they learned a thing or two about pleasing their customers. This is what the small guys do really well, and besides cost, customer service is the main reason why people switch away from Rogers.