I have some friends who live in a city of approximately 25,000. I would like for them to obtain broadband internet services, however they have absolutely no selection when it comes to internet service providers. The entire city (aside from those using wireless phone service) are forced to use the services of the local telephone company.
In past years, local internet service providers have sprung up -- only to be bought out by the local telephone company. I wouldn't care so much except that this telephone company does not have competitve rates at all. Currently they are charging $20/month for dialup internet service ($40 if you count the phone line), $60/month ($80 with the phone line) for a 750k/750k DSL line. There is no Sprint, AT&T, MCI, etc to turn to as an alternative. I'm paying about $30/month for
6Mb/1.5Mb with basic cable -- I can choose from a variety of cable, telephone and dsl providers. Please tell me something illegal is being done with respect to my friends and what can they do about it?Does the FCC handle such issues?
Thanks,
Mike