Feel my pain

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt seems to be exasperated by the failure of 1996 legislation to hasten telecom competition. As somebody who lobbied a second-term congressman named Al Gore Jr. on the inappropriateness of the "Bell Bill" in 1976, I feel your pain. But do you feel mine?

The question is occasioned by the latest "gotta have it," 56 kb/s modems. The two competing camps-modem market leader U.S. Robotics vs. everyone else-can't or won't agree on a standard for interoperation. And ISPs, with the exception of America Online, are waiting for the smoke to clear. The entire issue, however, may be moot. I probably can't use a 56 kb/s modem because I probably live too far from my central office, and at the end of a "dirty loop.

What does this have to do with Reed Hundt? Plenty.

I shouldn't need a 56 kb/s modem. One of the biggest reasons they will have a market is that carriers persist in charging too much for ISDN.

Basic rate ISDN should have been mandated as the next generation of basic service. If policy-makers and the industry had done things differently when the initial parameters for global ISDN services were first promulgated in 1976, I would have a basic rate ISDN line today at a reasonable rate. High-speed modems are not about technology, they are about pricing.

High-speed modems are also about the failure of public policy. Rather than concentrating on users' needs, public policy-makers have focused on industry restructuring. We've been long on policy and short on public.

I favor unbridled competition as the most effective means for making new technology widely available at "reasonable" prices. And while I have pleaded for abolishment of the FCC, I do believe government has a role in overseeing aspects of the industry.

These include fair rationing of scarce national resources like spectrum and telephone numbers; protection of the network from physical harm; and a "carrot and stick" approach to making state-of-the-art services universally available and affordable at some "basic" level. Regarding the latter, the lack of digital loops serving the 75% or more of access lines in this country that are connected to residences-when juxtaposed with telephone company spending on state-of-the-art networks overseas-makes government activism warranted.

It's worth revisiting a proposal I made in 1988 on the rapid proliferation of residential ISDN. I advised an overturn or waiver of the FCC's network channel termination equipment rules for residential service. These rules say customers are responsible for equipment that multiplexes and demultiplexes telecom traffic on their premises.

The precedent for a waiver was established by the FCC in the mid-1980s when a waiver was given to rural carriers to encourage the rapid deployment of local loop radio-based exchange services. Service termination equipment was allowed to be part of the service offer.

With waivers in hand, basic rate ISDN could be mandated as basic service wherever there is a digital central office, much as equal access was mandated. Carriers could offer one B channel as basic service and other combinations of B and D channels as value-added capabilities. And equipment costs would drop substantially.

It's almost a decade later. I still don't have a digital connection at a reasonable rate.

Mr. Hundt, if you really felt my pain, here is what you could do: Adopt my old ISDN plan and get involved in chairing an industry task force that establishes a U.S. standard for digital subscriber line. Once the industry agrees on a standard, mandate its deployment-and to ensure rapid deployment of the technology, mandate that resellers pay a pro rata share.

The world is not about the pain of carriers whining about level playing fields. It is not about ISPs whining about paying something for what they get for nothing. It is about customers' pain. If I have to wait for competition to give me what I want when I need it, I may have to move. If 56 kb/s is the answer, all I can say is, "Ouch!"

Peter Bernstein is President of infonautics Consulting Inc., Ramsey, N.J. His e-mail address is 714-9256@mcimail.com.