Dear Chairman Wheeler -
Time and again, big Telecom has shown that they will stop at nothing to be allowed to continue gouging the public for every shred of bandwidth (whether they provide it or not) that they can bill for. The LAST thing on their priority list has ALWAYS been providing the actual service.
This multi-tier pricing scheme is just the latest scam they've concocted to squeeze more money out of the same tired, outdated infrastructure. They claim that there's a bandwidth shortage... they should know, THEY created it!
By refusing to upgrade hardware, by leaving hundreds of thousands of miles of already installed fiber optic trunklines unused, THEY ARE AT FAULT!
This scheme would REWARD them for NOT providing the services they've been contracted to serve; something these corporations ALL have great expertise in doing... or actually, NOT doing, because they're NOT doing their jobs.
And if they are allowed to implement this new pricing scheme; you know and I know that there will "suddenly" be all this "newfound" fiber-optic capacity for them to exploit at ridiculously inflated rates based on this supposed "Bandwidth shortage".
How does all this affect me? I am an independent IT Contractor; my work all comes to me over the Internet from my own advertising and from Managed-Service companies like OnForce. My livelihood depends on the Internet.
You can be certain that if my sources of work have to pay more to maintain the same presence on the Internet due to this bogus scheme, they will pass the costs on to me, and to each and every one of hundreds of thousands of independent contractors like myself.
My own local business interests will suffer; as I am only able to get Internet Service from a local ISP, who will no doubt be relegated to one of the "slower lanes" simply due to the fact of lower population density.
As a result, my advertising for local services will never get to those who want my services from outside my local area; instead, they will only find advertising from the biggest Managed-Services companies that can afford to buy increased presence on this phony "Bandwidth-starved" playing field!
In essence, I will be paying not only for my own service, but paying for the privilege of having my local business taken away from me and given to another outside company, just because they are bigger! And, to add insult to injury; I will probably be routed that work at a reduced payscale via one of those large managed-services companies; which I may or may not be able to afford to accept.
My story is not singular; in outlying areas we already suffer from a dearth of services, and local ISPs charge whatever they want for the barest minimum of capacity. Now imagine what will happen to all outlying areas if the major carriers are allowed to pick and choose their customers; everybody in those outlying areas will be relegated to dialup speeds, if any services at all, as the big Telecoms will only be interested in the big population centers, where they can gouge... err, "multi-tier" the most customers with the greatest ease.
Sound familiar? It should. It's the same battle we had decades ago, with the same big Telecom companies (some of the names may have changed, but the major players are still the same), that eventually led to Telephone Service being declared a utility and the breakup of AT&T.
What a shocker! Telecom Companies trying to price-fix and monopolize the flow of information... we surely never saw this coming!
My wife is a Music Teacher; as such, she cannot do her job without access to a free and public Internet. Research and communications between institutes of learning and the Universities that serve them is where the Internet originated; the backbone of which is still trunk-lines owned and operated by those Universities. If the Telecom companies are allowed to control the middle-ground, closing off interconnection between those trunk-lines at will... then the future of the Public Education System in this country is at stake as well.
And finally... my wife's second job... yes, that's right; second job, even with both of us working... is private Music Instruction. She has a number of local students she teaches in our home; but increasingly, she also has a number of students taking lessons from her via Skype and NetMeeting from other cities.
As with my own advertising for local IT Services, her advertising for distance Music Instruction will never get out to those who need those services; indeed, the throttling of bandwidth will probably make those services impossible.
THIS is what is at stake, Mr Chairman... the very fabric of modern Society depends on the flow of information. We fought these same tyrants back, over the same war, decades ago. If we don't do the right thing again, we will have to live with the consequences.
The entire nation will go dark... with only pinpoints of very bright light at major cities where Big Business can feed their rapacious appetites; where the Telecoms feel it is worth their trouble to compete. The rest of the nation, as far as they're concerned, can go straight to Hell. And it will.
You have the power already. Do the right thing. Declare the Internet a Public Utility, and regulate the Telecoms like your life depended on it; because it does. The future of our Society depends on the free flow of information. The fact that I, a humble citizen, am able to pass these words on to you is proof of why it is so important.
We know that Corporate America cannot be trusted to shepherd this kind of power; they've already demonstrated time and again that they will not allow any potential abuse of power to go unexploited.
We must not give them that power.
Thank you for your time,
Paul & Elizabeth Krajewski
and little Marcus & Veronica; for whose future I fight today.
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