[9657] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Telecommunications Competition Act of Washington State
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dick St.Peters)
Sat Jan 15 15:10:46 1994
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 15:06:15 EST
From: stpeters@spare-parts.crd.ge.com (Dick St.Peters)
To: adamfast@u.washington.edu, karl@mcs.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: <stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com>
> > why has the level of telephone service actually been /declining/ since the
> > sixties? market forces are /not/ achieving universal service.
>
> Oh really? The cost of a long distance phone call (THE ONLY PLACE WHERE
> THERE IS COMPETITION) has declined what -- 90% in real dollar terms -- since
> 1960?
Both views are correct. In 1960 we had a national perspective much
like that of many other countries today: telephone service is one
thing. Since then, a new perspective has taken hold here: telephone
service is two things, local service and long distance service, to
be provided by different providers.
Karl's obviously correct that the cost of long distance service has
come way down. We pay less (for long distance), but we get less too -
the "level" of service, to use Adam's term, has declined. In 1960 we
got free long distance directory assistance, for example, and if you
had trouble placing a call, a local operator would place it for you -
for free. If the call still wouldn't go through, the operator would
have the problem traced and fixed, place the call for you, and call you
back when it went through. In many/most places, a pay phone would give
you, free, a dialtone to reach an operator to place a collect call or
emergency call. The phone company owned everything, right down to the
individual phones; whenever *anything* went wrong, it was their problem
... no finger pointing, no passing the buck. They fixed it, usually
very promptly, for no extra charge, even if it was caused by your kid
pouring maple syrup over the phone.
There's another interesting way to view this: the phone company's view
was that they provided a high level service with premium support. The
smooth operation of this network required that amateur customers not
muck with the wiring or attach foreign equipment, or the whole
telephone network would be at risk. Yet today we own our own phones,
do our own on-premises wiring, provide our own support, and if we have
to holler for help from the phone company when it ain't their problem,
we pay for it enough so we don't do much hollering. If the telephone
network can survive amateur homeowners actually physically attaching
wires to it ... (Hopefully, a few com-priv regulars are smiling with
amusement by now ... so I'll leave the thought unfinished.)
--
Dick St.Peters
GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
