Steve, where is the fair play here?
In the September 19, 2005 issue of Forbes, Steve Forbes thinks the BIG BELLS should be allowed to enter the cable TV business without having to pay all the fees the cable companies (and therefore you and I) have to pay. The Bells think having to pay these fees would be anticompetitive.
I'll tell you what Steve, me and the rest of the "peanuts" have a couple of issues with the BIG BELLS and competition. Maybe you could address these for us.
Give us unbundled DSL. I don't want to have to buy a local line in order to get DSL. Why should I have to pay for a line larded up with ridiculous fees and charges, when all I want is high speed DSL. As Steve Forbes points out in his commentary, we lag the world in high speed Internet access. Well, no wonder. We cannot buy high speed internet without having to buy some other overpriced service to go along with it.
Why should I have to buy a Bell local line when I can get VoIP service for less than half the money. Maybe Steve should ask himself this: If the Bells were truly interested in competition, they should be happy to offer me unbundled DSL with no strings - or in this case copper lines - attached. Maybe this should be the quid pro quo in allowing the Bells into the cable TV business without having to pay franchise fees.
With unbundled DSL I would also get to choose a better local long distance plan. Steve, did you know that a call from the Chicago suburbs to the City of Chicago can cost as much as $.08 per minute. No, this is not a typo. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? How much does it cost you to call New York to LA? How about New York to Canada? How about New York to London? I'll bet these calls aren't much more expensive than calling 30 miles in the Chicago area. If the Bells were interested in fair play they would rectify situations like this and stop blatantly ripping off consumers.
How about it Steve. If paying franchise fees offends you and the BIG BELLS, how about we agree to a deal. The Bells get their cable access, but in the true spirit of free trade and competition, they are required to offer unbundled DSL, so we can all have access to broadband AND get to choose who provides our telephone service.
I'll tell you what Steve, me and the rest of the "peanuts" have a couple of issues with the BIG BELLS and competition. Maybe you could address these for us.
Give us unbundled DSL. I don't want to have to buy a local line in order to get DSL. Why should I have to pay for a line larded up with ridiculous fees and charges, when all I want is high speed DSL. As Steve Forbes points out in his commentary, we lag the world in high speed Internet access. Well, no wonder. We cannot buy high speed internet without having to buy some other overpriced service to go along with it.
Why should I have to buy a Bell local line when I can get VoIP service for less than half the money. Maybe Steve should ask himself this: If the Bells were truly interested in competition, they should be happy to offer me unbundled DSL with no strings - or in this case copper lines - attached. Maybe this should be the quid pro quo in allowing the Bells into the cable TV business without having to pay franchise fees.
With unbundled DSL I would also get to choose a better local long distance plan. Steve, did you know that a call from the Chicago suburbs to the City of Chicago can cost as much as $.08 per minute. No, this is not a typo. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? How much does it cost you to call New York to LA? How about New York to Canada? How about New York to London? I'll bet these calls aren't much more expensive than calling 30 miles in the Chicago area. If the Bells were interested in fair play they would rectify situations like this and stop blatantly ripping off consumers.
How about it Steve. If paying franchise fees offends you and the BIG BELLS, how about we agree to a deal. The Bells get their cable access, but in the true spirit of free trade and competition, they are required to offer unbundled DSL, so we can all have access to broadband AND get to choose who provides our telephone service.
posted by slates at 6:24 AM
1 Comments:
This is so prevalent throughout modern American society. It doesn't matter what you want to buy - you can never get it without strings attached. For example, I tried to switch to a phone plan that only had voice mail and Caller ID. When I called SBC, they said to just get phone line + Caller ID + VM would cost me more than some super deluxe plan that offered me Caller ID + VM + three-way calling + Call Waiting and some other super-deluxe features I had no interest in using. It was beyond the customer service rep as to why I wouldn't switch. Duh.
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