ehopper@ehpcb.wlk.com (Ed Hopper) (01/14/91)
On January 9, 1991, the Texas Public Utilities Commission, on a vote
of 3 to 0 approved a negotiated settlement in Texas PUC docket 8387.
This is the case of Reginald A. Hirsch, et. al. vs Southwestern Bell
Telephone Company. This case grew from Southwestern Bell's attempt to
assess business rates to all known BBSs.
The negotiated settlement provides for the following provision to be
added to the Southwestern Bell tariffs:
----- Begin quotation from proposed stipulation ------
2. Southwestern Bell agrees to amend Section 23, Paragraph
3.1 of its General Exchange Tariff defining business service to
include the following footnote:
As a result of a Stipulation in Docket No. 8387 approved by the
Commission on ______, Southwestern Bell agrees that all Bulletin Board
Systems ("BBS") that are located at residence locations that do not
solicit, require, or receive monetary compensation and that use three
or fewer local exchange access lines shall be permitted to subscribe
to local exchange access service at the approved residential rates.
BBSs that are eligible to subscribe to local exchange access service
at residential rates may publish their name, telephone number and
technical information in a listing of BBSs by location or subject
matter. Such listings must be purely informational to advise readers
of the BBS's name, telephone number, location, subject matter, hours,
baud rates, and other technical information. BBSs that do not meet
these conditions will be considered businesses, and approved business
rates will apply for all local exchange access lines used by such BBS.
------------------- End Quotation -----------------
The stipulation also provides that Southwestern Bell will provide a
single point of contact for BBS operators and that for a period of 90
days after the PUC decision, they will waive service charges on orders
to change service from one class of service to another in order to
comply with settlement.
This has been a long fight. The settlement is not what any of the
parties would consider perfect. It does give BBS operators in Texas a
firm set of guidelines in which to operate. They no longer have to
play "Russian Roulette", hoping that they reach a SWBT business office
that understands the rules.
Ed Hopper
President - COSUARD
BBS: 713-997-7575 ehopper@attmail.com ehopper@ehpcb.wlk.competer@taronga.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (01/15/91)
Let's compare this with our esteemed Moderator's conecpts of what constitutes a "business": > Systems ("BBS") that are located at residence locations that do not > solicit, require, or receive monetary compensation So far, so good. Pat has made this point in the past. > and that use three or fewer local exchange access lines Whoops. Oh well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad. > at residential rates may publish their name, telephone number and > technical information in a listing of BBSs by location or subject > matter. Oops, make that 1 out of 3. > This has been a long fight. The settlement is not what any of the > parties would consider perfect. Definitely. COSUARD caved in under pressure, it seems, rather than stand up for reasonable restrictions. The rules that came out of this are purely ad-hoc and while they cover the majority of current BBSes they provide absolutely no basis for future developments simply because they are grounded in expediency instead of logical resoning from first principles. In passing, and at the risk of being overly political, this is typical of bureaucratic regulations passed at the urgings of special interest groups, no matter how well-intended. peter@taronga.uucp.ferranti.com