Who’s Providing You Access to The Net?

Many of us use major big-name Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for everything from sending emails, poking someone on facebook, tweeting on Twitter, or shopping for the latest gizmos on eBay.

Here in Canada, the big ISPs are cable television giant Rogers Cable, telephone giants Bell Canada and Telus, and American network giant America Online.

These large corporate ISPs provide dedicated, high-speed broadband Internet access on their own proprietary networks.

However, many more subscribe to smaller third-party ISPs that offer disco

Image via Wikipedia

unted rates, when compared to the primary ISPs. These third-party ISPs lease network access from the big ISPs, and then re-sell it in bulk to cost conscious consumers.

This provides competition in the ISP market, as the smaller ISPs compete against the very same larger companies providing them with network access, driving down prices while providing more options for consumers.

Image via Wikipedia

That was until last year, when the Canadian government wiped clean from the rule books the law requiring the big ISPs to provide access to their networks (for a fee) to the smaller third-party carriers. This came in the form of a ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that said that Bell and Telus no longer had to provide access to their broadband Ethernet network to the smaller competitors.

Winnipeg-based Manitoba Telecom Systems (MTS) has appealed the CRTC ruling, and a decision will be made by the Canadian government by the end of the year.
MTS was bought out by Allstream, a larger telecom company, but still a dwarf when compared to the large ISPs in Canada.

Since then, the smaller carriers and their customers have

Image via Wikipedia

been worried about the Internet being pulled out from under them at any time. Imagine, going to your computer, loading up your favorite web browser, only to have the screen scream back at you error messages because your Internet connection doesn’t exist?

Although the third party carriers may be smaller than the ‘big boys,’ they pack a big punch. A campaign by MTS last month has generated over 85,000 angry letters to Members of Parliament (MPs), backing them and their cause.

What is that cause?

The Coalition for Competitive Broadband – led in part by MTS and over 50 other third-party ISPs – says the CRTC has failed to ensure a competitive marketplace for Internet services, and has failed to look out for the interests of Canadians.

"This cabinet recognizes that government has a role to play in ensuring healthy competitive conditions," said Chris Peirce, chief corporate officer for MTS Allstream, in a statement. "There's a wealth of evidence that the CRTC has no idea how to ensure competition, and that is why the government must continue to direct the CRTC."

It’s all about competition in a fair and level playing field for the coalition.
The coalition says that without proper access to the primary ISP’s networks, Internet rates will increase, reducing access to the Internet for the poor, and severely limiting small and medium businesses access to the Internet. The coalition references numerous global studies, backing their claims.

Meanwhile, Bell and Telus poo-poo these studies, simply saying they are wrong. They point out that Canada is world leader when it comes to broadband technologies. Bell and Telus say the smaller third-party ISPs don’t care about competition; they just want access to their big broadband networks for below market prices.

Competition in the telecom industry continues to flop. Back in the 1990’s, the CRTC paved the way for deregulation in the telephone sector, allowing consumers to choose which company they wanted to do business with for their telephone needs.

At first BCE, the parent company of Bell Canada, and all the other su

Image via Wikipedia

bsidiary telephone companies in the country complained, saying deregulation was bad, as it would drive up prices and reduce technological improvements. They even tried to scare us by saying if you plugged in a phone that wasn’t one specifically designed for their network, it wouldn’t work.

Smaller mom and pop phone companies popped up briefly, re-selling phone services to consumers. Most of these got gobbled up by Bell, and the other big telecoms. The ones which remain, tend to be Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) based companies, which don’t need to lease telephone lines for their services.

In fact, the only competition that really exists in the telephone sector in Canada is between a select few big companies. A handful of American companies have entered the mobile phone market – Virgin for one – but for the most part, Canadians don’t enjoy a free and open market in telecom.

The prices are driven by an elite group of suits and ties ruling the industry through their supersized companies.

There is just as little competition in the high-speed broadband Internet market.
It’s all the same companies – unless you go with one of the smaller third-party resellers, who – if the CRTC ruling stands – may one day pull the plug on your Internet service.

Canada is one of the most wired countries on the planet – studies constantly tell us that. But that doesn’t mean we have a competitive market, full of choice. On the contrary – our Internet – just as our telecom network – is one of the most monopolistic in the world.

So much for a free market.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Cellphones top telecom complaints (cbc.ca)
• Broadband campaign draws 85,000 letters to MPs (cbc.ca)
• Liberals urge more internet, cellphone competition (cbc.ca)
• CRTC wants internet pricing answers from Bell (cbc.ca)
• Bell, Telus told they're on hook for big rebates (thestar.com)
• Canada's top Internet regulator calls Canadians "Internet hogs," pretends not to know about studies showing Canada's poor global net-performance (boingboing.net)
• CRTC reviewing its oversight of basic telecom services (cbc.ca)
• Law Bytes: Internet providers ease back on throttle (thestar.com)
• Broadband battle launched against Bell, Telus (thestar.com)
• MTS, small ISPs launch campaign against CRTC ruling (cbc.ca)
• Canada's Internet Service Providers Can Legally Limit Your Bandwidth (jordansdaily.blogspot.com)
• Is Broadband Internet Access a Legal Right? (jordansdaily.blogspot.com)
• It's War in Canada's Television Industry - Thanks to the Government (jordansdaily.blogspot.com)

Is Broadband Internet Access a Legal Right?

Those Europeans are at it again – pioneering the future for the Internet with their whacky ways.

The latest – Finland has become the first country in the world to boldly declare broadband Internet access a legal right. As of July 2010, all telecommunications companies doing business in that country must provide broadband Internet services of at least one-megabit per second or face fines.

Image by freedryk via Flickr

That means all 5.2 million citizens in the northern European nation will have broadband Internet access. Though that won’t be hard for the small country, Finland is one of the most net-friendly places on the planet, with about 95 percent of the population already online.

And that one-megabit per second mandate will grow over time – that’s just to start out and facilitate the transition so that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Finland can expand their high-speed broadband networks to the rural areas that don’t presently have such services.

By 2015, the mandate requiring telecommunications companies to provide broadband access to the Internet will have increased from one-megabit per second up to 100-megabits per second.

Finland’s new law is part of a growing philosophy in Europe where the Internet is considered as vital a part of life as water, food and shelter.

This past June, the highest court in France declared access to the Internet a fundamental human right. This came on the heels of a major campaign by the United Nations (UN) to its member countries, which lays out the new basic essentials of life in a modern society, which include access to the Internet.

Many other studies have been done on our basic needs in this modern world, and if one were to compile a list based on these studies, the new world order requires:

• Healthy food to fuel our bodies
• Safe and secure shelter to protect us from Mother Nature’s wrath
• Clean drinking water to prevent dehydration
• Clothes which protect against the elements of the natural environment
• Electricity to power much needed electronics such as lights to see, fridges to store food, stoves to cook that food and heaters to keep us warm
• Safe and proper waste disposal, to prevent the spread of disease and death
• Banking or monetary services to be able to purchase these basic needs when they run out
• A communications system to keep in touch with the outside world

Most industrialized countries around the world have policies in place to promote high-speed broadband (as opposed to lower speed, narrowband dial-up) access to the international network of networks circling the globe, collectively called the “Internet.”

Canada’s government has mandated that the telecommunications providers wire Canada’s north, bringing broadband Internet to the country’s northern regions – that’s part of the reasoning behind the network access fees ISPs charge (a similar fee is also charged by cell phone and digital television providers, for the same reasons). These fees are supposed to be used to pay for the costs of expanding the digital communications networks by the ISPs, and other carriers.

Years ago, the nation’s largest phone company – Bell Canada – complained loudly about this government initiative, claiming they were being singled out by the Canadian government just because they were so big. However, all providers have since picked up the slack, and are also collecting various fees from their subscribers to maintain and expand their digital broadband networks.

Image via Wikipedia

Ironically, one of the most powerful nations on planet Earth doesn’t have such a plan. The United States of America is the only industrialized nation not to have a formally recognized plan to promote, maintain and expand high-speed broadband Internet access to its citizens, according to a study released this past August by one of the country’s largest organized labor unions, the Communications Workers of America.

However, an American national plan is anticipated in February 2010, when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to submit such a proposal to Congress.

Still, Americans are falling behind the Europeans, as Finland is the first – and only country so far – to legally declare access to broadband Internet a human right. Other European nations are expected to follow Finlands example in the coming years.

Although the Internet is an amazing tool for communications, is it a fundamental human right? Some form of communications should be a fundamental human right. One would have thought that the telephone would win that honor.

Think about it, during an emergency situation, what’s the first thing most of us would do – aside from panic? CALL 9-1-1 (or your local emergency number) using a TELEPHONE.

Most of us have email, some form of instant messaging program, and many even have the ability to place telephone calls over the Internet, using programs like Skype.

But if your house is on fire, are you really going to run to your computer and email the fire department? If you get into a car accident, are you going to tweet for a tow truck on Twitter? If a mugger attempts to rob you as you walk home from a night out with friends, are you going to instant message the police?

The Internet is a great resource for those trying to connect with family and friends during a major traumatic event. It has been used to help coordinate messages of hope, raise funds for victims, even as a way for friends and family to locate loved ones during major catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina in Mexico and the southern U.S., the Asia-Pacific Rim Tsunami, the forest fires off the west coast of North America, even the Red River flooding in Manitoba, Canada and other natural disasters.

But for immediate response with emergency workers, we use the telephone.

Yes, you can do so much more with the Internet than a phone. But playing online games, downloading movies, and poking someone on Facebook aren’t nearly as important as the ability to instantly connect with live-saving resources when they are needed.

Sure, we can conduct important life-changing tasks online, from banking, ordering food, even applying for a new way to earn a living.

But until the police, fire and ambulance services are just a point and click away, the telephone is the communications technology which should be a fundamental human right in the industrialized world.

The Internet is important, but not something our lives really depend upon.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Fast Internet becomes a right in Finland (cnn.com)
• Finland makes fast broadband a legal right (telegraph.co.uk)
• FCC Proposes New, Awesome, Net Neutrality Rules [Net Neutrality] (consumerist.com)
• The price of universal broadband (news.cnet.com)
• How Canadian ISPs May Control Your Internet Experience (jordansdaily.blogspot.com)
• Surfing the Net in Canada - Watch Where You Click (jordansdaily.blogspot.com)