OpenNET Coalition

DO YOU WANT TO BE ABLE
TO CHOOSE YOUR ISP?
If yes then please read this.

So often what you hear on the Internet are just rumors and hoaxes that it becomes difficult to know what to believe. For example, there is a recent e-mail hoax concerning "pay by the minute" Internet access. The fact is that the FCC is not proposing any such charge, but there is a real possibility that local telephone and cable companies will be able to take away our option to choose an ISP and be forced to use their service in exchange for access to the new broadband connections only they can offer.

At present most people access the net by making a local phone call to their ISP's Point of Presence (PoP). While we usually can't choose who our local telephone company is, we can decide which ISP to call. It could be a small local ISP or one of the major providers such as AOL, Prodigy or MindSpring. The point is, we are not forced to use any one service and as a result there is competition between providers to offer the best prices, service and support.

The analogue telephone lines that most of us are using to access our providers were never intended to carry high speed digital data communications. These lines represent the "weak link" to a world of high speed networks. Data can travel halfway around the world in less time than it takes to go that final mile from the dial-up PoP to your modem. But this is now changing as telephone and cable companies begin to offer "broadband" connections from your home or office into the high speed networks that comprise the Internet. These new broadband connections offer speeds hundreds of times faster than analogue modems and will usher in a new age of voice and video communications which are impractical using today's dial-up technology. The era of slow analogue modems is coming to a close. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? And it could be... but there is a catch.

The companies that will provide these "final mile" broadband connections want to dictate who your ISP will be (not surprisingly they will usually choose themselves). For example, I use MindSpring as my ISP. After making a local call into their PoP, I am connected to their high speed network and from there to the rest of the world. But if I wanted to use TCI cable to bridge that "final mile" I would be forced to use their Internet services. It isn't a technical issue, they could add an extra charge to my cable bill for data access and then allow me to continue to use MindSpring. Instead they offer a "package deal" whereby I can only use the services they choose to provide at whatever price they decide. In effect these companies are creating an ISP monopoly for themselves. So in exchange for use of their high speed cable into my home, I have to give-up the excellent service, features, support and prices of my chosen service provider. TCI doesn't have to compete with anyone, it is a "take it or leave it" offer. Again it bears repeating, this is not a technical issue, they could provide that "last mile" service and then direct the data anywhere it needs to go.

What it amounts to is telco and cable companies that aren't content to provide broadband connections, they want to be the only ISP in town. Excellent service providers such as MindSpring could go the way of the dinosaurs if they are taken out if the loop by greedy telcos and cable companies who don't want to compete with them. I don't have a problem with telcos and cables offering full service Internet access, I just don't want to be forced to use it. I would be happy to pay them for the use of their high speed transmission lines, but beyond that if they want to offer other services they should have to compete with everyone else.

So what can we do about it? A good place to start is by visiting and bookmarking the OpenNET Coalition at http://www.opennetcoalition.org. Join their mailing list and tell your friends about this. Ask your local ISP to join (their very existence is at stake). When the time comes to contact your local representatives, write, call or e-mail them and let them know you want to see that open competition and consumer choice are maintained as new broadband Internet access options are developed. As it stands right now, we do not have a choice and must make our wishes heard if we ever want to be able to take advantage of the new technology without being forced to use services that could be better provided by others.

For those of you who are not MindSpring members, I have included a portion of Charles Brewer's (MindSpring Founder and CEO) February 6, 1999 Announcements letter. I think he did a very good job of explaining what is at stake.

OPEN INTERNET AT RISK

You have a personal stake in a crucial issue where the Internet's future is being decided. The Federal Communications Commission, Congress, and other governmental agencies are considering whether the keys to the Internet will be left in the hands of consumers, or instead given over to local telephone and cable company monopolies.

You may be astonished that this debate is even occurring. After all, today access to the Internet is remarkably open and competitive. That is the very source of its power. Consumers are able to choose among dozens of competing service providers to help them connect to the Internet at the lowest price and with the best service. ISPs compete on price and ease of use. We compete on connection quality and on customer support. We compete in the different services we provide. This openness and competition has driven the incredible phenomenon of Internet growth over the last few years.

Now imagine a future in which only one ISP is allowed to connect you to the Internet. You must use that ISP no matter what its price, or how poor its quality and customer service. You are forced to see the content that ISP puts on its home page or splash screens - perhaps obnoxious advertising, perhaps political commentary that you disagree with.

Believe it or not, that is the result we could have in the next generation of the Internet. The Internet of the future will require high-speed "always-on" connections. We will be able to download information from the Net at amazing speeds, including video programming like today's television and cable services. We will be able to use our Internet connection to make much cheaper phone calls, and video phones will finally become practical and common. Many other devices in our homes and offices will become more efficient and useful through links to the Internet.

The key to all these new services will be a permanent "broadband" connection from your home or office to the Net. You will no longer "dial-up" the Internet by a local call from your computer to your ISP. Instead, you will be permanently connected to your ISP with a link that is capable of carrying far more information than today's phone line.

These "broadband" local links are not futuristic technology. Telephone companies already are starting to upgrade their local lines to support broadband transmission. Cable companies also are adapting their lines so that they can carry communications to and from the Internet at high speed. It remains to be seen where and how quickly these upgrades will occur. Cable, for example, may have a particular advantage in the small business and residential market. But in any event, consumers generally cannot expect to have more than two "broadband" links to their home. And many will have only one: either the telephone line or a cable connection.

The catch is that both the cable industry and some telephone companies want to use their control of the "last mile" wires leading to homes to gain exclusive control of access to the next generation Internet. These "local wire companies" want to force consumers to use the local wire company's affiliated ISP - whether the consumer is happy with that option or not.

Cable companies are unanimous and very direct on this subject. They do not intend to allow customers to select any ISP but the cable company's own service. When the cable company offers a broadband link to your home, you'd think that you could use that link to connect to MindSpring or any other ISP, just as you buy local phone service today that allows you to reach anyone you want, including your preferred ISP.

But cable companies state emphatically that they will not give you that option. If you want to get next generation Internet service delivered through their wire, you will be required to use the cable company's own ISP. You'd better like that company a lot, including its prices, service quality, the editorial views it promotes on its home page, and the use it makes of your customer information with junk mailers.

Local telephone companies probably will not be allowed to "just say no" to other ISPs. And, some of them are behaving much better than others in dealing fairly with other service providers. However, in many cases they are seeking the same practical power the cable companies want by looking for ways to discriminate against their competitors and steer customers to their own ISP operations. How would you feel if your only economical way to reach the next generation Internet was by using your local phone company? Do you want to pay their prices, which would not be regulated? Do you want to rely on them for technical support? Do you want them deciding what content you are exposed to each time you visit the web? For that matter, do you feel much better if you could choose between the phone company and the cable company, but no one else?

It doesn't have to be this way. Both the phone and cable companies can easily allow customers to connect with other ISPs besides their own so that consumers can continue to choose their ISP for themselves. They just don't want to do so. They want to completely lock up the next generation Internet customer for themselves (the cable position). Or they want freedoms that would allow them to discriminate against consumers choosing unaffiliated ISPs (the position of some telephone companies). Either way, today's open and competitive door to the Internet would be slammed shut.

This is the most important issue consumers of Internet and telecommunications services face. If consumers don't have an open choice of which service provider they connect to through the "last mile" wire leading to their homes and businesses, we emphatically will not have a competitive market for the core communications service of the future - the Internet.

Government policy makers are considering these questions right now. They are hearing plenty from the telephone company and cable company interests. They need to hear from customers. The message is simple. The government should adopt policies that allow consumers to use the Internet service provider of their choice - both today and in the next generation "broadband" world.

MindSpring is a founding member of the OpenNET Coalition - a group dedicated to this issue. If you would like to find out how to make your voice heard on this issue, please go the coalition web site and sign up to be part of the OpenNET Coalition Activist Network:

http://www.openNETcoalition.org/action/

The coalition will keep you informed and let you know about the best opportunities for you to express your views to policy makers.

We at MindSpring have never asked you to take a stance on any political or public policy issue. But, this one is so critical to the future of Internet consumers, and so directly relevant to the service that MindSpring provides to you, that we feel we need to make sure you are aware of this issue and encourage you to speak up.

Sincerely,

Charles Brewer
MindSpring Founder and CEO