A recommendation
has been made by the Administrative Law Judge in the Colorado LADS battle. A recommendation
has been made by the Administrative Law Judge in the Colorado LADS battle.
The last monopoly in telecommunications is the control of the "last mile", the local loop between the telephone company central office and you. The US Congress determined in legislation a year ago that the local telephone companies are required to open up the local loop and to allow people to just rent the copper without having to take a dial tone. And indeed many telephone companies were allowing just such rental for many years under little-known tariffs with names like "alarm loop" and "local area data" (LAD) lines.
Now, with the explosive growth of the Internet, it has become more and more important to figure out ways to pass large amounts of data to and from peoples' offices and and homes and to their ISPs (Internet Service Providers). In some places, ISDN is available and offers one option for passing such data. In a few areas, telephone companies are offering Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) services. And one of the most commonly used (but expensive) ways of getting Internet access is via frame relay and dedicated digital lines.
It has also become clear that one of the most economical ways to get high-bandwidth data between locations is to sign up for a "dry pair", a pair of copper wires between two points, with no dial tone or battery on the wires. The user then simply places modems at both ends of the copper wires and passes data economically and at high data rates between the two points.
Some ISPs have discovered this and have started using alarm lines and LAD lines to provide high-speed data connectivity to their customers at great savings as compared to digital services provided by the telephone companies.
I suppose it should not then come as a surprise that US West, which stands
to lose money every time someone uses a LAD line (at $50 per month) instead of
say a T1 line at several hundred dollars a month, has decided to try to do away
with LAD lines. It has filed requests with the utility regulators in the
fourteen states in which it operates, asking for permission to refuse to take
any more orders for LAD lines.
In
Colorado it filed what is entitled Verified Application per
Rule 57 and Request for Expedited Treatment.
In Colorado, the Public Utilities Commission responded to US West's request by publishing a Notice of Application Filed and Notice of Hearing. The Notice sets a due date of July 7, 1997 by which anyone who wishes to intervene may do so. The other way in which members of the public may participate is by filing written comments.
I have filed a Petition for Leave to Intervene which was granted, and I also filed written comments in the form of an Objection.
The most important thing you can do, if you are in one of the fourteen states in which US West is proposing to cut off LAD service, is to contact your telephone regulator and file papers to be an intervenor. If you can't do that, at least file written comments.
Here are the Web addresses for the state regulators:
Here are the postal addresses for the state regulators:
Arizona Corporation Commission 1200 West Washington Phoenix, AZ 85007-2996 Idaho Public Utilities Commission PO Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0074 Iowa Utilities Board Lucas State Office Building Des Moines, IA 50319 Minnesota Department of Public Service Suite 200, 121 7th Place East St. Paul, MN 55101-2145 Montana Public Service Commission P.O. Box 202601 Helena, MT 59620-2601 Nebraska Public Service Commission P.O. Box 94927 Lincoln, NE 68509-4927 State Corporation Commission 1120 Paseo de Peralta, Pera Bldg Rm. 536 PO Drawer 1269 Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1269 North Dakota Public Service Commission 600 East Boulevard Bismarck, ND 58505-0480 Oregon Public Utility Commission 550 Capitol Street N.E. Salem, OR 97310-1380 South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Capitol Building, 1st floor 500 East Capitol Avenue Pierre, SD 57501-5070 Utah Public Service Commission 160 East 300 South - Fourth Floor Salt Lake City, UT 84111 Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission P.O. Box 47250 Olympia, WA 98504-7250 Wyoming Public Service Commission 2515 Warren Avenue, Suite 300 Cheyenne, WY 82002
Press coverage of the US West effort to cut off LADS service:
A March 1997 editorial in Boardwatch magazine sets forth US West's gripes about data users tying up telephone lines and points out that DSL is a good way to reduce that problem. The editorial points out, correctly, that to the extent there is a problem with ISP customers leaving their modems dialed up around the clock, it is extremely helpful for LADS lines to be available as a way for customers to connect to their ISPs. You can see a letter from US West in which US West complains about this modems-off-the-hook problem.
See also the USWorst web site, established "to inform and to help customers of US West fight against the incompetence that seems to run rampant in their company."
This page is <http://www.panix.com/~oppedahl/lads>. Revised July 12, 1997.