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Contributions How the Baby Bells and the government destroyed competition for DSL, long distance and local phone service ASK THIS | April 13, 2006 Customer advocate Bruce Kushnick, in the second of a series on telecommunications, writes that reporters should be asking why the promised era of competition to lower prices and bring broadband to America never materialized.  Telecoms, cable and the ‘Net neutrality’ fight ASK THIS | May 03, 2006 Who paid for, who owns the broadband ‘pipes?’ Customers largely paid for them; phone companies claim ownership. Also: Open vs. closed networks. (Third in a series) Where’s that broadband fiber-optic access? ASK THIS | March 14, 2006 The head of Teletruth, a consumer advocacy group, writes that in spite of huge payments and other financial incentives to the country’s monopolistic telecommunication giants, the United States is 16th in broadband Internet technology and falling. How did things go wrong in your state? How do the big telecoms qualify as small businesses? ASK THIS | June 23, 2006 Bruce Kushnick, in the fourth of a series, says giant firms are gaming the system, using fronts for FCC auctions of the airwave spectrum. Why is Congress considering such anti-consumer telecom bills? ASK THIS | July 26, 2006 Activist Bruce Kushnick writes that both telecom bills before Congress would be huge giveaways to the very same telecommunications giants that have in the past pocketed massive government subsidies while shafting consumers and knee-capping American competitiveness. But they've taken very good care of members of Congress Local phone charges have soared since the break-up of AT&T ASK THIS | September 18, 2006 One in a series: Activist Bruce Kushnick examines local telephone charges. Is the sum greater than the parts? No, they’re all extremely high, he finds, and basically unregulated. For low-volume users, phone costs have risen sharply COMMENTARY | January 04, 2007 Despite phone company pledges to reduce charges, millions of people are paying more for long distance calls, sometimes as much as $1 a minute. Meanwhile, the FCC chairman says rates are in a free-fall. Verizon, AT&T and the manipulation of public opinion COMMENTARY | April 04, 2007 Needed: Blacks, Hispanics, disabled, deaf, low-income and the elderly to support the telecoms’ positions on anti-consumer FCC rulings and legislation. Press gives a free pass to citizens groups allied with telecoms ASK THIS | May 07, 2007 At a New Jersey utilities board hearing on cable franchises, three guys from Verizon – the elephant in the room – go unnoticed by the regulators, and by the press. Corporate-funded research designed to influence public policy COMMENTARY | October 01, 2007 Reports by well-known think tanks and individuals funded by telecoms are helping quash competition, increase phone rates and set up a corporate-oriented Internet system. Is there any reason to trust these reports? Or to trust experts who testify before regulators without revealing the sources of their funding? How much of your state’s legislation is being drafted by industry? ASK THIS | November 30, 2007 The American Legislative Council, or ALEC, lets corporations cultivate legislators and win support for industry-written bills while not technically breaking lobbying rules – and paying no taxes. (First of two articles) Wisconsin: A case study in how corporations get the legislation they want COMMENTARY | January 31, 2008 Telecom and broadband expert and activist Bruce Kushnick describes how model corporate bills get introduced and enacted in Wisconsin, to the detriment of the common good. (Second of two articles.) The FiOS ads say, 'This is big!' Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't COMMENTARY | May 09, 2008 Bruce Kushnick scoffs at the new FiOS ads in New York and wants to know where all the billions earmarked for broadband have gone. What now for broadband and the telecoms? ASK THIS | November 17, 2008 Will Obama and Congress be satisfied to leave the U.S. as 15th among developed nations in broadband use? Will the FCC under Democratic control be less of a tool for large corporations? Questions and proposals from Bruce Kushnick. Expect big problems in the switch to digital TV ASK THIS | December 03, 2008 For some over-the-air viewers in rural areas the switch to DTV in February may result in unforeseen costs and inability to view stations they now watch. The new FCC chairman is making all the right promises. Can he fulfill them? ASK THIS | July 08, 2009 Julius Genachowski, with connections to Obama and prior experience at the FCC, says he will promote universal, affordable, open broadband. To do that and to fulfill other promises, he first will have to take the agency out of the grip of the telecommunications firms it is supposed to regulate. Press coverage here isn’t just desirable, it’s vital. Why does the FCC keep using old data? COMMENTARY | November 19, 2009 There aren’t many ‘small’ or ‘very small’ Internet service providers. But you can’t tell that from data the broadband and Internet regulators use to make decisions that benefit the big telecoms. What’s the outlook for broadband and Internet? ASK THIS | February 03, 2009 The congressional stimulus packages could go either way, writes consumer advocate Bruce Kushnick. They could mark a new, promising beginning—or they could be a new boondoggle for AT&T, Verizon and rural phone companies. Is basic American telephone service in a death spiral? ASK THIS | February 03, 2010 Bruce Kushnick questions whether AT&T and Verizon are trying to kill off the “plain old telephone service” that millions of Americans rely on. In a recent FCC filing cited by Kushnick, AT&T stated that landline utilities are from a bygone era, and asked to be relieved of its obligations to service them. |
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