hes@ecsvax.UUCP (10/25/83)
In all this discussion there appears to be a concensus that people should pay for the phone services they receive. The argument is over what price they should pay. The principle that they should pay according to the value to them is only tenable in a monopoly situation. The FCC seems to be saying that that time is ending. Both the FCC and many state PUC's are adopting the principle that charges should be according to the cost of providing the services. This, in principle, is straightfoward (I didn't say desireable, or anything like that-- The catch is that nobody KNOWS what it costs to provide each aspect of telephone service. This is a result of antiquated bookeeping practices, intentional and unintentional cross-subsidization, etc. The problem is much wider than modems-- it also includes the access charges for inter- and intra-state long-distance calls. The very high charge for ANY modem use appears to be a simplistic solution-- but so does the statement that all types/patterns of phone use should pay identically. Can someone tell us something about the breakdown of real costs of providing local loop/mainframe connection at telco/dialing capability/ trunks to other telephone's frame/etc. and other services... --henry schaffer genetics dept. n.c. state univ