TO Your Customers:
Dear Internet Customer,
If you are concerned about preserving the quality and availability of
your DSL service, please take a moment to read this urgent notice.
The FCC will be deciding tomorrow, August 4 2005, to unregulate DSL,
according to the Wall Street Journal. "The matter wasn't on the FCC's
formal agenda for tomorrow's meeting but is expected to be a
last-minute addition," reports the WSJ.
De-regulation of DSL is essentially a reversal of the 1996 Telecom Act.
Do you remember before 1996, when we had only one choice for local
telephone service and when the Internet was mostly unheard of? The 1996
Telecom Act opened the door to competitive telephone service and to the
Internet by requiring the telephone companies to provide open-access.
The subsequent Internet boom, fueled by the services developed and
provided independently of the telephone companies, has been a
tremendous asset to our country.
So why is the FCC considering this action, and doing so at the
last-minute without any chance for public input? Outwardly, they have
promoted deregulation as an attempt to foster broadband deployment by
removing costly restrictions from the few regional telephone companies.
Yet most industry analysts concur that deregulation will backslide to
the undesirable conditions of pre-1996 days, ultimately resulting in
fewer choices, less innovation, more restrictive service and
ultimately, higher costs.
If you would like to express your opinion to the FCC against
deregulation of DSL, it will only take a minute. Use the links below to
send a brief email to the FCC commissioners. Tell them that taking
last-minute action is rash and does not allow proper time for public
input. Explain that deregulating DSL is the wrong path; that as a
consumer, you want more choices and not less.
http://www.ii4a.org/fcc.htm
http://www.ii4a.org/action.htm
II4A Contact information:
http://www.ii4a.org,
email: isps@ii4a.org or phone
813-496-2122