| Comment Number: | 527031-00002 |
| Received: | 1/9/2007 1:19:30 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Ken Schnell |
| State: | FL |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Could it be that Adelphia / Comcast is interfering with VoIP products that compete with their own and creating these problems? I feel cable companies have far too long been allowed to circumvent those laws, which telephone providers have not been allowed to circumvent. They have been given so much latitude that competition has suffered, and innovation has suffered as a result. We need laws that level the playing field - that also allow for communities to install their equipment (fiber to the premises) and then charge those who wish to provide services access to those fiber lines to send out their signals to the various homes in the community. This will also provide another benefit - it will eliminate the myriad of lines that are dug in communities to provide services, it is cheaper for all of the companies involved in that they will share the costs associated with the connection to the homes. The increased competition from a single access point, and the reduced overhead of the lines will reduce costs to all consumers. This has the added benefit in that the number of streets recently paved do not get dug up so quickly becoming a hodge-podge of patch work requiring more maintenance to fill potholes. My personal experience: Recently Comcast is replacing Adelphia here, during this process a "STRANGE" thing has happened to my VoIP service. I started getting dropouts in the voice, and reduced quality; also I could no longer send a fax over that line, this started immediately after they had a DNS server change on or about the 16th of October. I cannot remember the exact day. In this regard though I had contacted Adelphia / Comcast to report the problem. I was told there is no problem we will note your account there is no problem. I was given the answer that we do not provide you with VoIP service - so you should check with them. Sounds almost logical; however the power company does not supply me with light bulbs either but they burn just as bright here, regardless of who supplied them; and if on a particular day and at a particular time all of a sudden my light bulbs ALL went a little dimmer should I check with the bulb manufacturer or with the company that supplies the conduit for the electric?