TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Net Telephone Fees Have Users Fuming

Re: Net Telephone Fees Have Users Fuming

Dave Close (dave@compata.com)
29 Jan 2005 16:50:21 -0800

Jake <JakeSmith@DELETE3579.com> writes:

> Jack Decker wrote:

>> What boggles my mind is that companies in the telecommunications
>> industry seem to get away with something that would not be allowed
>> almost any other industry, and that is quoting one price to a

> Looks like we need a new law. Where is the FTC? Where is the FCC?

This problem is /caused/ by regulation, and is unlikely to be cured by
more of the same. Most businesses are subject to anti-fraud laws and,
as you say, would not get away with advertising a different price from
the one actually charged. But because telecom is regulated, they can
do anything permitted by the regulators. While the FCC and state PUCs
may not have explicitly authorized this deception, they have permitted
use of filed tariffs as a way to disguise practices. Essentially, the
regulators have said that a telecom can do anything so long as it is
documented in the tariff.

The only solution that won't lead to more complex problems is to
abolish all telecom regulation, returning telecoms to the discipline
of general laws and the market.

Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting
dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without
dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke

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