Monday, June 10, 2013

Carrier of Last Resort or Not

Interesting, "Twenty-five states had passed legislation eliminating or reducing state commission authority over telecommunications by the end of the 2012 legislative sessions." And 'According to the NRRI report, the companies are no longer required to offer any service, commonly known as "carrier of last resort" in 10 states."

"AT&T and Verizon have both announced that they are abandoning the copper wires and have stopped doing upgrades." The article mentions that the RBOCs collected about $360 Billion to replace the copper network with fiber for broadband. It never happened. But they have helped the NSA to spy on us. (Here and HERE).

We just had our first named Tropical storm in Tampa, FL, so this last line made me raise an eyebrow: "What’s the likelihood of a hurricane in Florida where phone service disruptions can be widespread? Stay tuned, AT&T has gotten rid of “carrier of last resort” obligations in that state."

Harold Feld would like the FCC to step up in NJ where VZ is replacing copper with VXW Voicelink service instead. I am shocked that the Union has been so quiet - or hasn't tried to unionize VZW.

"Still, under Federal law, a provider of telephone service cannot "discontinue" or "impair" service to a community (or portion of the community) without permission from the FCC."

1 comment:

GeoTel said...

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, especially with hurricane season getting worse and worse each year.