Did you know that internet service is not regulated by the Alaska Regulatory Commission?
After several of us in our rural Alaska community received the "Effective June 1st, your dial-up service will cease" letter this week, I gave the Alaska Regulatory Commission a call.
Below the fold is the response I received. What do other states do?
Also below the fold are a few more details I have learned after checking the alternatives.
Response from Alaska Regulatory Commission:
"Thank you for contacting the Consumer Protection Section of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska regarding the dial-up Internet services provided by Alaska Power and Telephone Company (AP&T). It is our understanding that AP&T’s dial-up access is an information service that AP&T provides as an Independent Service Provider. Our agency regulates intrastate telecommunications service (local exchange and long distance) but does not regulate Internet service or providers due to federal preemption.
You may file a complaint with the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Section of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC may be contacted at:
FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC, 20554
Website: <http://www.fcc.gov>www.fcc.gov
Toll Free 1-888-225-5322
The Department of Law, Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Protection Division, addresses complaints regarding unfair business practices. You may contact the Consumer Protection Division at 1031 West 4th Avenue, Suite 200, Anchorage, Alaska, 99501, or at (907) 269-5200. You may also contact the Better Business Bureau at 3601 C Street, Suite 1378, Anchorage, Alaska, 99501, or at (907) 562-0704.
Please feel free to contact our office again if you encounter a problem with a regulated utility that you are not able to resolve."
A few more details, included in my response to the response.
Though Alaska Power and Telephone's letter to customers was dated April 28, 2010, I received my letter on May 11, 2010--effectively giving me less than three weeks to deal with this issue. (I was told by an AP&T rep "We're not responsible for slow postal service.")
I did sign up for broadband today, but the tiered rates will increase from $25/month for dial-up ($15 originally) to $30, $50, $60, or $80/month depending upon the level of broadband service one chooses. There is effectively little or no improvement of bandwidth at the lowest level of service.
The $40 option for higher bandwidth (double the lowest rate) that many people originally signed up with when broadband locally was first offered has been eliminated. Additional surcharges for high usage are automatically added. A modem with four port/wireless capability is an additional $50 set-up fee.
In rural Alaska communities, these service providers have a monopoly and should be regulated.
Alaska businesses, those on fixed incomes, the unemployed, seniors, single-parents, many others can help boost Alaska's economy by using internet services to find work, network with others, sell goods, etc. It is to the benefit of the state of Alaska for internet services to be regulated.
I have been told that my dial-up service will be discontinued June 1st--period--even though I have a web host and a business that relies on the service that I was originally solicited to purchase from AP&T that has been in effect for several years.
The June 1st date is a critical time for me because I am expecting a shipment of books at that time that I must shepherd through the port of Seattle to AML barge via internet communications. And I have travel scheduled to be away from home in late May.
I have been given no date or time of availability of my new service, though I must make plans for this travel and to get this change done in the meantime.
Please pass these notes onto folks in Alaska State government who might care to expand the services provided by the Alaska Regulatory Commission to include internet service.
I expect the issue of ever-increasing rates by internet service providers will only become more problematic as utilities seek to increase their profits at the expense of consumers.