One ISP operator was angry enough to sit down and write about what's really going on in the United States.

by Larry Summers General Manager, WTS Online [March 26, 2004]

Godzilla is retired. The Japanese movie studio that has produced 'ol bad breath and stomp 'em for many decades, has decided to retire the movie monster, who had a real cult following. People flocked to the theater so they could pretend to be terrified when Godzilla flattened buildings, tossed police cars and fought other monsters. Lots of folks here in the United States liked to watch those monster movies, where tiny human beings get squashed—and heroes slightly wounded. It was all rather impersonal and not all that scary. In fact, it was mostly funny.

Even though we don't have Godzilla, the movie monster, to worry about anymore, we do have a real-life version that some folks call the "Evil Empire." And unlike with 'ol flame-breath, there is good reason for us to be scared silly. After some decades of re-organization after divestiture (The AT&T-Bell split), your local phone company has decided to burn and pillage competition, reinstate near-total monopoly and generally take over all things telecommunications, again.

Simply put, if you're an Internet Service Provider, CLEC or even a big Long Distance Company, the RBOC Empire and ILECs in general, are after your hide and mine. The only hope any of us has is that they want a few of us to cripple along indefinitely so they can say they have competition. That isn't much of a hope. And for most of us, if it is true, it isn't funny. Bankruptcy and unemployment are seldom-funny events in a person's life. And it is my opinion that most of us will be bankrupt in less than two years—some much sooner than that.

In August of 2000, Verizon was fined $250,000 for deceptive lobbying practices—another way of saying they lied their face off. In fact, between 1996 and the first part of 2001, Verizon was fined three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000.00). See www.VerizonPathetic.com/fines.html.

To me, this means that not only will Verizon cheat, but also they don't much care if they get fined, so long as their plan is moving forward. And I believe their plan is to take over most of the Internet.

So yes, I am scared silly.

As a small, rural ISP, I don't make a lot of money. But I perform a real service to my community and make a living. I am the guy who makes broadband work, fixes computers, networks, and generally services the technical needs in my town and within roughly 50 miles of here. There are two other shops in town. They both have ISP operations. Without the ISP, my company doesn't make enough money to stay in business as a full service shop. And neither do either of the other two, so I have been told.

A thousand telemarketers in the big parade
Verizon brought DSL to my town. They charge $29.95 or $34.95 a month depending on the plan. They have bill stuffers, what seems like a horde of telemarketers calling everyone they can reach, and a full court press to sign up everyone they can.

And they are succeeding.

For most folks, it is a no-brainer to switch from $19.95 Internet plus a second phone line for $19.10, to $34.95 a month for Broadband with no second phone line. And since Verizon charges $28.95 for DSL wholesale access to the phone line, companies like me cannot compete. I have to supply the bandwidth and ISP services. Oh, and Verizon Online will eat the roughly $100.00 out-of-pocket cost to establish the service ($60.00 install plus modem and filters). I can't.

When Verizon discovers that a business class customer is using my service, they quickly drop their listed business rate of $59.95 in an attempt to get them to switch. Now doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy?

Dropping an extra line saves a business $34.95 a month, exactly what Verizon will charge them for DSL if the business yells enough, or if Verizon (apparently) knows the business is with someone they regard as competition.

And their wholesale customers are now their competitors, thanks to FCC Rulings.