The Internet at risk: A return to the Ma Bell era

[Renew Deal]

Comcast's bullying of Level 3 and Zoom Telephonics reveals the lack of broadband competition that threatens the Internet

Back in the bad old days of Ma Bell's ascendancy, you couldn't attach anything to the monopoly's telephone network without express permission: not an answering machine, not an extension, not nothin'. Those days are long gone -- unless you or your users connect to the Internet via Comcast, the giant cable network that delivers television and broadband connectivity to millions of customers.

In a stunning display of arrogance, Comcast is stopping Zoom Telephonics from providing cable modems to its subscribers by imposing a ridiculous set of conditions. How ridiculous? In addition to meeting unrealistic standards about heat resistance and packaging, Zoom would be forced to pay business-class airfare and hotel accommodations for Comcast employees who journey to Asia to approve Zoom's modems, according to a complaint filed with the FCC .

There's no mystery about why Comcast wants to stop its customers from buying Zoom cable modems. Comcast customers normally rent cable modems for $5 a month; a Zoom modem costs $55 to $75. The math isn't hard.

Both consumers and IT have a stake in this one. The principle of allowing "non-harmful" devices to be connected to the network has been settled law since the Supreme Court's Carterfone ruling of 1968. Can you imagine how obnoxious it would be to have some bozo bandwidth provider declaring that the firewall you just installed on your network was "harmful" and you'd better buy one from them?
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http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/the-internet-risk-return-the-ma-bell-era-361

[Hannah Bell]

1. i don't remember any such era where you couldn't attach anything to your phone without permission.

not since such attachments became available to consumers.

not sure what the writer is talking about.

the days of the bell regulated monopoly weren't "the bad old days," either.

the bell regulated monopoly had a number of consumer benefits: cheap, reliable service, good customer service, & straightforward billing.

i'd be quite happy if the internet were run like the bell monopoly; 1 tier of universal service, caps on consumer cost, profits plowed back into r&d instead of off-shored to swiss bank accounts & global hedge funds.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. I do. 50's-60's. It was ALL Bell equipment. But yes, it was a

reliable, dependable, affordable, if not somewhat boring, monopoly.

There is a reason for monopolies. If they are controlled, which they were.

What's bizarre is that we're almost back to that same stage, now that AT&T has re-gobbled up all the local Bells. WTF is the difference now? They should have the shit regulated out of them. On a federal level. This 50-state each one different shit is useless.

[Hannah Bell]

3. yep, little difference except for the worse in terms of what matters most. deregulation was just

another profit opportunity gifted to the ruling class by their paid courtiers. like every deregulation/privatization has been.

50s-60s was all bell equipment -- &/because add-ons weren't widely available on the consumer market. people don't miss what doesn't exist. no one was clamouring to be allowed to have an answering machine. and as soon as answering machines were on the consumer market, you didn't have to check with the phone company to use one.

the article was written as though there were an era when consumers wanted to use add-ons but were prevented from doing so by that nasty ma bell. "the bad old days". not the case.

[TexasProgresive]

13. I did not say that deregulation was good

I said that they threw the baby out with the water. The regulations were in need of modernization. Prior to the breakup of Bell the phone companies owned the whole thing- the instrument, house wiring, the drop from the pole and the cable back to the central office. If someone wanted an answering machine they had to lease one from the phone company, fax machines had to use the audio (acoustic) coupler. See image. There could be no electrical connection between the phone line and any equipment that was not leased from Bell.

Few knew about modems and other such stuff because it was just too expensive.

[TexasProgresive]

4. Yes, it is true.

Every device attached to a phone line directly had to be provided by the phone company. The first modems were audio couplers where you placed the handset in cups. Of course this was not particularly efficient but it was the law.

That was something that definitely needed change. However the baby was tossed out with the water. The whole telecom industry is hardly regulated at all and with the move of people to cable for internet and wireless, soon there will be no regulation to force a modicum of service.

i.e. It use to be that when you called operator or repair they was an Answer Time Recorder that would peg count calls answered too slow. This report went to state PUC's which would fine the company. Now they just send you to voice mail hell.

[Hannah Bell]

5. i direct you to post 3. 95% of the population never heard of a "modem" until the 90s.

the days of the regulated bell monopoly were "the bad old days" only for the small percent who wished to extract greater profits from a deregulated industry.

[bemildred]

6. I do. nt

[charlie]

7. One attachment was the phone itself

You could only lease, not buy, a phone from a Bell subsidiary.

[Hannah Bell]

8. so what? i direct you to my post: "not since such attachments became available to consumers".

[charlie]

11. So, nothing

It was an observation. Both companies disallow(ed) purchase of the primary interfaces to their networks. I thought it was germane.

[diane in sf]

9. It wasn't cheap--even as late as the 70s local and interstae calling was very expensive

cost me $60 to talk to someone in Palo Alto--30 miles away--for an hour from San Francisco

[Hannah Bell]

12. basic service was cheap.

[starroute]

10. And in the 70's you could buy your own but still needed permission

I remember buying a new phone when that became allowable and having to call the phone company up and read out a bunch of numbers off the bottom so they could verify it wasn't going to blow out their network when you plugged in it.