Intellectual Property Law

It costs more

By Susan Crawford

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the “regional duopoloy” story of internet access seems to prevail.  It’s AT&T or Comcast.

I applied online for AT&T DSL, and for most of the process I was convinced that they were going to let me buy internet access *without* having an AT&T landline phone.  No go.  Little red type showed up on the screen [paraphrasing]:  Please tell us your existing AT&T number. You can’t get DSL alone.

I called Comcast, and the company’s representative said:

Internet access all by itself?  $57.95 per month.  But you can’t get our fastest download speed (6MB) without also buying some cable service.

So I ask the natural followup question:  How much would the really fast speed internet access cost with a basic cable package?

That’ll be $34.99/month for the first six months.

Although I guess it’s gratifying to have my basic thesis supported - that the cable companies are actually competing with the internet, and don’t want to have people hooked on internet access - this was irritating.

So I got a landline phone from AT&T (that I won’t use) plus their DSL service.

Meanwhile, this headline today, via Dewayne Hendricks and Dave Farber:

Telecoms Sue Over High-Speed Links

Telecommunications companies are suing cities around the nation to stop the construction of publicly owned fiber optic systems to bring high-speed Internet, telephone and cable television to communities far from metropolitan centers.

This line seemed particularly apt:

Many involved in the issue see a typical clash of viewpoints in the litigation embroiling Monticello, Minn., a town near Minneapolis, and TDS Telecom, a subsidiary of Bridgewater Telephone Co.

. . . A motion for dismal is scheduled to be argued on July 18. Bridgewater Telephone Co. v. Monticello, No. 86-CV-08-4555.

Dismal indeed.  Of course the existing incumbents don’t want to see government intervention in internet access services - even though government intervention and the creation of a whole host of policies and subsidies supporting broad internet access brought the internet into widespread use in this country.

Full post as published by Susan Crawford Blog on July 07, 2008 (boomark / email).