The ISPs In their Own Words:
New York
"They have destroyed the competition by pricing, failure to cooperate (obey existing laws and regulations) and have solidified their advantages with advertising that should not be subsidized by my phone bill, and by legal efforts (including lobbying) that telephone users also pay for".
California
"Take the blinders off. SBC/ Pac Bell is a monopoly and the citizens of California are the losers."
Texas
"The FCC is allowing the Bells to become an UNREGULATED MONOPOLY"
New Mexico--- rural provider
"We're dealing with a monopoly mentality. If we desperately need lines in an outlying town, we can wait for months. Once, we identified phone problems in Los Alamos. Qwest denied the problems until it became apparent that 911 was unavailable during peak periods."
Texas
"I believe Southwestern Bell (SBC) regularly and deliberately engages in business practices which are anti-competitive by nature and give an unfair advantage to their own company."
California
"Our phone company is getting in the way of progress and innovation for two reasons: 1) They are choking the internet and innovation created by new companies to simply protect their old revenue monopolies. 2) They have set up systems and procedures to insure that the majority of the market share and captured is controlled by their own newly created divisions."
Kansas
"The Bell's billing and sales practices are predatory and unfair, even to their own agents. They will promise one thing and then do another, including trying to take your clients. And when they have a technical problem, they are always first to blame you and your equipment. They never admit to there being a problem even though it some times just "mysteriously" goes away."
Kentucky
"The lack of options results in their essentially controlling the growth and scope of our ability to exercise inherent benefits of the free enterprise system resulting in a much limited scope of offerings we are able to present to our customers."
Missouri
"Southwestern Bell does not compete fairly. When customers call SWB to complain about their phone service, they are told they should be using SWB Internet or Prodigy, which I believe is against the law. This happened to me at my home and when I told the operator she was breaking the law, she quickly changed her tune."
CLEC--- Nationwide
"They control the competition no matter what the regulators do. The Bells deny new services can be provisioned. When they can no longer support that argument, they delay it in the regulatory process by forcing the competition, which clearly has less resources, to do legal battle in that arena. If the Bells lose in the regulatory arena, they then degrade the probability of any loss of market share by degrading the implementation of the new service claiming it is 'new' and their technicians 'need time to become familiar with it.' The same does not happen when they introduce new products of their own. They do not use that excuse with their large retail customers. They wouldn't get away with it."
California
"Pac Bell has used "Strategic Incompetence" and carefully constructed interconnection hurdles to flatten its competition. Microsoft's monopoly was achieved fair and square compared to the Bell monopoly. Pac Bell had their monopoly handed to them by a well intentioned government in the interest of creating a country wide communication infrastructure. Pac Bell should be embarrassed. I guess they just can't get customers when there is a level playing field."
Texas
"SWB (SBC) is using their monopolistic powers in the telecom industry to remove competition in the Internet industry. They are using heavy handed tactics to force ISP's to sign one-sided contracts. They are forcing us out of the DSL market."
CLEC Multiple States.
"We write our largest checks to monopolists that give us poor service and want to put us out of business. We have no choice!"
Texas
"The action of the Bell company in their dealings with us as a 'partner' and a vendor, are so blatant that I find it impossible that anyone can perceive these actions in any other way than that they are purposely sabotaging the businesses of these 'partners and customers' who are also their competition."
Oregon---Rural
"Access to copper circuits from the ILECs which are capable of running XDSL services prohibits ISPs / Customers from gaining xDSL services, especially in rural areas where ILEC's do not provide DSL services and the only options are to access broadband services through an ISP. Until recently in Oregon, Qwest had an affordable circuit called a Local Area Data Service LADS, which our company is using all across Eastern and Central Oregon for xDSL deployment. We have made substantial investments in architecture and have taken huge risks to provide xDSL services at affordable rates. Recently Qwest applied for a tariff increase on the LADS circuits which will put the cost for broadband services out of reach for most rural Oregonians. The Oregon PUC approved their request and new rates will be effective January 1, 2002. This will have an adverse effect on our company's broadband deployment as the demand will decrease due to the price increase of the LADS circuit. I have sent letters to the PUC, FCC, legislatures, etc, to no avail. The price increase is a done deal and our company and rural Oregonians will have to deal with the impacts of their decision. It is apparent to me that Qwest is trying to create a monopoly, as are the other ILECs, and the Oregon PUC is allowing it to happen. "
California
"They are trying to ensure that they continue to have a monopolistic stranglehold on the market and want to see NO competition at all."
Texas
"We are no longer able to add new DSL services in the SWB area as SWB is trying to force us to sign a new, unreasonable contract. SWB is threatening to turn off our existing SWB based DSL customers after 1/1/02 if we do not sign the new contract."
CLEC--Multiple, Rural States
"The RBOC have succeeded in crushing competition through:
1. strategic incompetence in prequalifying and provisioning
2. costly legal and regulatory battles
3. charging CLEC charges more than they charge themselves for prequalifying, provisioning and loops
4. Reframing the battlefield as RBOC against cable - total BS. They no longer can say they are "open" to competition as they have succeeded in stifling it. Now they have shifted competition discussion to the cable and wireless world. Cable is also struggling so I wonder what their story will be now? "we need monopoly to invest, trust us we will get it done". Wasn't this the argument for the Bell System? What did that do to pricing and innovation?
"The key is whether communications choice is fundamentally good. They are systematically eliminating choice for communications in their regions. Without competition we are back to the slow roll of innovations and the monopoly pricing and service levels of the Bell System again.
Texas
"Dear Sir, I watched the Patriot last night and it brought to mind my local telephone company. We are in a war with SBC right now and they have been burning our women and children alive. It's time to put a stop to this madness and stand up and fight before they drive this entire country to its knees!"
Massachusetts
"Take away their monopoly on copper lines!!"