Subject: some actual local competition
Curt Priest (cpriest@juno.com)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 14:49:12 EDT
To: ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG Subject: some actual local competition Message-Id: <19980831.144816.4239.17.cpriest@juno.com> From: cpriest@juno.com (Curt Priest) Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 14:49:12 EDT
We have heard about limited offers of local telephone service
in high density areas (RCN in Boston, MA, e.g.) but MA's largest
cable company -- MediaOne (was Continental Cablevision) has announced
a rollout of local telephone service which is price competitive with
Bell Atlantic.
They are offering the service in three towns: Andover, North Andover,
and North Reading. Their offering it first in Andover may relate
to the location of LANCity (recently acquired by Bay Networks) in Andover
which was an early developer of the "cable modem."
They take these "extras" and bundle them into one price:
1. Call forwarding
2. Call return
3. Call transfer
4. Call waiting/deluxe
5. Anonymous call rejection
6. Selective call blocking
7. Caller ID per call blocking
8. Caller ID with number/name delivery
9. Continuous redial
10. Customer originated trace
11. Preferred call forwarding
12. Priority ring
13. Custom code restriction
14. Distinctive ring
15. Speed calling
16. Three-way calling
17. Touch-tone dialing
When you price the 12 options (5 are not available) from Bell Atlantic,
they can be bought as a package for $15.99.
MediaOne is currently offering free installation, one month of free
service, and three months of voice mail at no charge. You can keep
your existing phone equipment, you can keep your current phone number,
and, surprise, you don't have to subscribe to cable to get phone service.
In outlying areas like Andower, the MediaOne, one price package of
$26.95 is more expensive than most Bell Atlantic options, but, in
say Cambridge, there is a savings of over $10 per month when you
include several of the features above.
Of course, MediaOne does not have to run cable to rural telephone
users that are outside of cable's reach. Is MediaOne
required to pay into the universal services pool to cover this?
Regards,
Dr. W. Curtiss Priest
W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CITS
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
Voice: 781-662-4044 BMSLIB@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Fax: 781-662-6882 WWW: http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/CITS/
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