Using its cable network in Clearwater, Fla., GTE conducted the demonstration project over the past two months in conjunction with AOL, CompuServe and its own Internet access division, GTE.net. GTE's demonstration pilot flatly discredits the claim that open access and consumer choice are technologically complicated and costly. GTE is in a unique position to demonstrate the ease of how open access to cable networks are possible because the company owns cable systems in Florida and California. GTE has proven that open access works as well on cable as it does on phone lines. Cable providers can easily and affordably open up their networks for high-speed Internet competition, and they should do so now.
American consumers deserve nothing less.
Vradenburg said consumers don't want to pay for two ISPs to get the one they want, regardless of whether they are connecting over cable or telephone wires. Working with several different vendors and standard equipment, GTE made adjustments to its cable modem platform that allows competing ISPs to have direct access to their customers. The technological solutions demonstrated by GTE work whether the cable system is analog or digital. GTE contents that the solution will work with all varieties of cable modems. That's less than a dollar a home passed.