Where customers do have a choice, they are often forced to wait months for the service to be installed because the local monopoly is slow to fulfill the service requests of their competitors. The customer service problems that DSL users have experienced are similar to the problems that local phone customers have been experiencing. In both cases, a lack of competition is to blame. If these deficiencies aren't corrected before PacBell is allowed into the long distance market, California consumers could face the same problems that plagued New Yorkers when regulators allowed Bell Atlantic into the long distance market. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was intended to promote competition in phone and Internet services, but so far the results have been disappointing.
Competitive markets can only develop if consumers demand choices.
Otherwise, we could end up with a re-monopolized, unregulated telecommunications industry. And our phone and Internet service could wind up being just as unreliable and expensive as energy is becoming in California. About Broadband Briefings Broadband Briefings is a free electronic newsletter, published by NetAction to promote policies that encourage rapid and widespread deployment of high-speed Internet access. NetAction is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting use of the Internet for grassroots citizen action, and to educating the public, policycmakers, and the media about technology policy issues. All rights reserved.