FCC: Phone Companies Don't Have to Sell DSL as a Stand-Alone

By Yuki Noguchi / The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission announced Friday that states cannot require regional phone companies to sell high-speed Internet service as a stand-alone product.

The 3 to 2 decision along party lines, voted on last week and released Friday, was a victory for BellSouth Corp., which had asked the commission for a ruling in 2003.

The ruling effectively gives BellSouth and other regional giants an advantage over competitors trying to sell alternative phone service.

Democratic Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps dissented, calling the practice of "tying" phone service to high-speed Internet service anti-competitive.

In doing so, Copps and Adelstein echoed the concerns of smaller carriers and Internet phone providers such as Vonage Holdings Corp., which have argued that requiring customers to buy Internet access and phone service from a single provider limits consumers' choices.

"If it is permissible to deny consumers DSL if they do not also order ... voice service, what stops a carrier from denying broadband service to an end-user who has cut the cord and uses only a wireless phone?" the Democrats wrote in a joint statement.

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How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have said before that the best thing to do, IMO, is go with cable internet _whenever possible_ and try to avoid Bell and its DSL completely, for just these same reasons. Bell has a long, sordid history of being very tricky and difficult to deal with. If cable internet is not available, then of course take Bell service and its DSL, but watch for any possible opportunity -- such as cable being installed or expanded in your area -- to break away to a competitive CLEC and cable internet, such as I have done, now two years ago with Prairie Stream and Cable One. PAT]