RE: FCC Ruling, Cost of Internet

["Christian Kuhtz" <ck () adsu bellsouth com>]

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> > The Commission intends to address next week, in a
> > separate order, the broader issue of whether conventional dial-up
access
> > to the Internet, made through calls to information service
providers,
> > including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), is local or
interstate in
> > nature.
>
> This stupidity again?

Isn't the real issue inter-LATA vs intra-LATA?

> An Internet dialup call is an interstate call if you're in one state
> dialing into a POP in another. Otherwise it's not. Duh.

Well, not quite so simple in the current regulatory disaster.

> The FCC has much better things to do than debate a point for which
the
> answer is painfully obvious. 

Is it really that obvious?  I don't think so if you consider the full
picture of everything resulting from the way the country is currently
chopped up -- LATA region & state wise..

> If you're going to tell me that when I dial
> up to my account in downtown Cleveland from my house ten minutes
away, I'm
> going to either laugh at you, tell you you're a flaming idiot, or
quite
> possibly both.

Even if you complete a call from one bedroom to another, it is
conceivable that you might cross LATA boundaries, or state boundaries.
 I am not saying that it is a good way to do it that way, but that's
the way the entire regulatory mess is defined.  In fact, an RBOC could
not sell you access that way.  Meaning:  RBOCs can't sell you
inter-LATA traffic, although they make a lot of attempts to make it
look like they are when they are in fact "teaming" with a 3rd party to
provide service to you that looks like one offering.

> Sorry. My ISDN line at home is serviced by Ameritech, and NACS's
PRIs are
> serviced by ICG/Netcom. Maybe I should get charged for a call from
Chicago
> to Denver since Ameritech is headquaratered in Chicago and ICG is 
> in Denver,
> even though I'm calling from Cleveland to Cleveland.

Again, it isn't quite that simple.  Unfortunately.

> If there's something obvious that I'm missing here, please, 
> PLEASE point it
> out to me...

L-A-T-A. *point* Regulatory garbage.

> Oh yeah. Are they going to insist on charging per-minute for voice
calls
> as well as data calls? I bet not.

Well, depends on how and where your calls are terminated.  It is quite
easily conceivable that an RBOC may get charged by the minute for each
completed call, and yet all they are is local calls.  It just so
happens that the RBOC is the orginator and a CLEC customer a
termination point.  CLEC makes money for not doing hardly anything. 
Heck, the CLEC doesn't even need facilities.  All it needs to do is
have customers.

Cheers,
Chris

- --
Christian Kuhtz <ck () adsu bellsouth com> -wk     ck () gnu org -hm
Sr. Network Architect, BellSouth Corp., Advanced Data Services
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