These firms buy chunks of time from the four major carriers and resell it in increments to consumers. At present, there are hundreds of repackagers, and they offer a broad spectrum of alternatives to their customers. One of the ways that packages differ is based on combinations of prices and probability of blocking. For instance, a buyer can select relatively high priced connect time coupled with a very low chance of receiving a system-busy signal. At the other end, the buyer can accept a high probability of blocking, as high as 50 percent, in exchange for a very low price when connected.
Prices allocate the temporary long-jam in the telephony system.
Already, power marketers and aggregators have begun to appear in the electricity market to play a role similar to the repackagers of the telephone industry. We expect them to offer variety to their customers, free to choose among the alternatives as it suits their particular demands for power. The question of system reliability is critical in this adjustment. Currently, producers in the nine NERC regions use a variety of system control devices to shift load and power from one firm to another to meet temporary ups and downs in demand. Similar controls will be required under competition.