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http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa - Details Below
Theme: Private and Public Roles
Author: Jahn Peter
E-mail: JahnP@psc.state.wi.us
Overlooking Critical Components of Universal Access
I have seen posts to this event discussing many parts of the
Internet puzzle. Posts have covered configuring computer
hardware, ISP pricing, on-line behavior and on-line communities.
Several have discussed providing Internet to schools and
libraries.
All of these posts miss a critical problem. For an average
person to get online, they need a computer and modem, a phone
line that will support the modem, and an Internet service
provider (ISP). For a large chunk of America, computers are
available, but a phone line supporting modems (of any speed) and
a local ISP are not.
In Wisconsin, our universal service rules, promulgated in 1995,
call for all lines to be capable of supporting modems running at
9.6kbps. The Commission staff proposed increasing that minimum
to 28.8kbps. The industry studied this proposal and the results
were eye opening, both to the Commission and the industry.
Roughly 30 percent of Wisconsin phone lines are not capable of
handling 28.8kbps speeds. This percentage holds true in urban
and rural exchanges. Some of this is due to long lines and older
equipment, but many brand-new, state of the art, name-brand
multiplexers and other outside plant equipment won't support
higher modem speeds. This problem exists nationwide: if your
state hasn't acknowledged the problem, chances are no one has
looked into it.
As anyone who has tried knows, surfing the web, or even
downloading the posts to this conference, can be slow and
frustrating at 14.4kbps or slower. But there may be 30 million
homes in the US whose phone lines cannot handle faster speeds.
To get online, customers also need to be able to call an Internet
service provider. For most customers, that call has to be a
local call: making long distance calls to an ISP is prohibitively
expensive. Even the surcharges for using an ISP's 800 number can
make access unaffordable for many families.
In extensive discussions with a lot of ISPs, two main reasons for
not serving rural areas came up. The first was lack of customers
in some rural exchanges. The second was that best customers in
these areas -- the only large, dedicated line customers -- were
the schools and libraries. These potential customers were
receiving subsidies to get Internet access via a dedicated line
from a distant city. In short, one unintended effect of the
universal service program for schools and libraries in rural
areas was to prevent average customers in these areas from
getting affordable Internet access. This trade-off may or may
not be reasonable, but it unquestionably exists. It may warrant
discussion.
(I examined these issues in more depth in a paper entitled
"Internet Access in Rural Wisconsin," published in the Fall 1997
NRRI Quarterly. It is not online yet, but I'm trying. NRRI is at
http://www.nrri.ohio-state.edu. I get e-mail at
jahnp@psc.state.wi.us.)
[Host Note: Another interesting issue about public sector use
of the Net is when public entities go with larger providers and
bypass local ISPs. In some cases the public entity will provide
home access for their staff or students which is consider by some
ISPs to be competition. This is an important issue, check out:
http://www2.universal-net.com/bsubb/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true
- If the URL is split - you need to sew it together.]
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