Telephony Regulation and the Internet

Background

Describes the issues to be examined.

This two-page extract contains the relevant passages from the FCC NPPR on access charge reform having to do with Internet service providers.

FCC Fact Sheet

About "the FCC, Internet Service Providers, and access charges."

FCC Bandwidth Forum

This is a transcript of the Jan 23, 1997 hearings on the prospects for high-speed residental communications. Also available in WordPerfect format.

Digital Tornado: The Internet and Telecommunications Policy

"Digital Tornado", written by FCC Staff Member Kevin Werbach, represents the first comprehensive assessment of the questions the Internet poses for traditional communications policy.

Final agenda

Agenda for workshop.

Congestion at the local loop

Local Exchange Congestion and Internet Service Providers

By Hal Varian. This is a short overview of the economic issues involving local exchange congestion due to dialup access of Internet service providers. It is based on a talk on this subject that I gave on March 7, 1997 at a conference entitled ``Telecommunications Regulation and the Internet'' at UC Berkeley.

Telcos, ISPs, and the Internet

An analysis by Arno Penzias of Lucent. He argues that the appropriate solution is non-blocking switches.

Internet economics: the FCC chimes in

Overview of Internet regulatory problems facing FCC.

McCain quote

About LEC switch congestion.

Bell Company Studies

Four studies of impact of dial-up Internet access on LECs. (Maintained by HREF="http://www.cix.org">CIX, which also has other useful information.)

Report of Bell Atlantic on Internet Traffic

Reports on the impact of ISPs on local switch congestion.

Internet congestion: crisis or come on?

Remarks by Michael Fitzpatrick, President and CEO, Pacific Bell Enterprises about congestion at the local loop.

Surfing the "Second-Wave": Sustainable Internet Growth and Public Policy - Part I

This "whitepaper" was developed to describe the Internet's impact on Pacific Bell's existing voice telephone network and articulate product and regulatory actions essential to jump-starting the "Second-Wave" of Internet growth.

PCN - Internet Thruway

Description of product that "removes the burden of long-duration data and Internet traffic on the voice network by elegantly diverting these calls to a data network."

Lucent's Access Interface Unit (AIU)

A new cost-effective non-blocking line unit for the 5ESS0 Switch that will be generally available in 1996. This line unit initially supports enhanced performance and reduced operational costs for analog connections, but will also support ISDN and ADSL in the future.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Overview of Bellcore report on "The Impacts of Internet Traffic on Local Exchange Carrier Networks and Switching Systems".

Pac Bell says Net use may collapse phone system

Article from San Jose Mercury News

ISDN rate hearings thrown for a loop: Microsoft offers fast, cheap alternative

4 POTS lines = 1 ISDN line.

DATA coaltion

News item about DATA coaltion, a group opposed to usage-based pricing for ISPs.

Telephone gridlock questioned

Another news item about DATA coalition.

Internet Access Coalition Home Page

A group dedicated to maintaining the affordability of Internet access over telephone lines and accelerating the availability of inexpensive digital telephone network connections to the Internet.

Comments on FCC Bandwidth Forum from James Love

Comments critical of LEC congestion claims.

The Effect of Internet Use on the Nation's Telephone Network

A study prepared for the by Lee for the Internet Access Coaltion by Selwyn and Joseph Laszlo of Economics and Technology, Inc. (This document is in PDF and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. The document is 4.4MB.)

Discussion of FCC NOI

From law firm of Peppper and Corazzini.

Phone companies can't spare a dime

Article from NEWS.COM about congestion.

Bypass and access charges

FCC NOI on Interstate Access Charge Reform

Also available as a WordPerfect document.

FCC NPPR on Internet and Interstate Information Services

Tentatively concludes that providers of information services (including Internet service providers) should not be subject to interstate access charges that local telephone companies currently assess on long-distance carriers.

State of Internet Telephony

Overview of current state of internet telephony.

Background on Internet telephony

From the Internet Telephony Consortium.

Internet Telephony Consortium

MIT group offering information about Internet telephony.

The Effect of Internet Telephony on the Long Distance Voice Market

An economic analysis.

An analysis of the ACTA Filing to the FCC on Internet Telephony

A critique of the ACTA filing.

Voice on Internet Coalition

Group advocating voice on Internet.

Reveiw of 12Web phones from CNet

Comparative review.

Summary of ACTA Petition

Materials relating to petition by America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA), which asked that the sale Internet Telephony software be banned and that the FCC regulate the Internet as a telecommunications service.

ACTA petition page

More information on ACTA petition.

Videoconferencing FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about video conferencing.

ISPs Ready Doomsday Defense To Thwart FCC Rule Change

Article describing alleged strategy by ISPs to avoid access charges.