Jeremy Greene

A member of the Philip Greenspun's Homepage community since June 11, 1999

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June 11, 1999, on Communications:
I think the woman you talked to at the Mass Dept. of Public Utilities was mistaken about Bell Atlantic not having to install your ISDN line in a timely manner. In 1991 the DPU ruled that BRI ISDN service is a "monopoly basic service." New England Telephone wanted to treat it as a "discretionary" service but they were overruled. As a result, at a regulatory level, ISDN is considered to be similar to basic telephone service, except with the added component of $8 for the digital subscriber line upon which the signals travel. It is interesting to note that $8 is approximately the marginal cost to NET / Bell Atlantic of providing ISDN service as opposed to regular POTS service. In states where ISDN is considered "discretionary," the phone company typically will price service much higher than this. The plus side of the low pricing is that it doesn't cost the consumer an arm and a leg. The minus side is that BA has less incentive to invest in their network and administrative infrastructure. Th...