Maryland Alert for Flat Rate ISDN

[James Love <love@tap.org>]

from tap-info, a free internet newsletter available for listproc@tap.org
October 11, 1995 


    If you Live in Maryland and Object to Metered Rate ISDN
                                
                           READ THIS!
                                
                                
              Maryland PSC Considers ISDN tariffs

Bell Atlantic (BA) submitted a residential BRI tariff to the
Maryland Public Service Commission under "Transmittal Letter
933".  This tariff would be the cost of  local measured service 
(LMS) for POTS (roughly $14 per month in the Washington DC area),
plus a monthly premium of $19.50.  In addition, there would be a
per minute usage charge, for both data and voice.

The BA tariff would make a distinction between data and voice. 
The  Circuited Switched Data  (CSD) rate would be 2 cents per
minute per B channel between 7 am and 7 pm, Monday through
Friday, and 1 cent per minute at all other times.  Voice calls
would be priced at 3.4 cents for the 1st minute, and 1.3 cents
for each additional minute, at all times.

No other flat rate option for residential ISDN was offered.  BA
currently offers POTS service under either flat rate or measured
usage.  Indeed, Maryland state law requires the company to offer
a flat rate option for telephone service.  BA is trying to say
that ISDN service, including voice over ISDN, isn t really
telephone service, for purposes of the law.

On Wed, Oct 4, 1995, after vocal opposition and numerous letters
and faxes from Maryland consumers, the Maryland PSC deferred a
decision on the BA tariff until a Oct 18, 1995 hearing. The PSC
directed the Maryland Office of People's Counsel (OPC) to meet
with BA and the PSC staff to come up with alternative proposals.

In Tennessee a PSC staff analysis said that residential ISDN only
costs the telephone company $9.77 per month more than POTS.
[Borrows and Pollard, The National regulatory Research Institute
s Review of Tennessee s ISDN Cost Studies, NRRI Quarterly
Bulletin 15:1] In 1991, the Massachusetts Department of Public
Utilities found that the incremental cost of ISDN service was
$7.40 per month over the cost of POTS.  Very little of Bell
Atlantic s costs of providing residential ISDN services are
sensitive to usage.

The OPC is interested in hearing from Maryland ratepayers
regarding this issue. They will also forward comments to the PSC. 
Send your comments by mail or fax to:

                Maryland People's Counsel     Attn: ISDN     6 St. Paul Center #2102  Baltimore MD 21202  voice: 410/767-8150; fax: 410/333-3616

The Consumer Project on Technology will provide updates on this
issue.

    http://www.essential.org/cpt  Consumer Project on Technology
    P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
    Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax 202/234-5176

October 9, 1995


----------------------------------------------------------------------
James Love, Taxpayer Assets Project; internet:  love@tap.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036; v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176
TAP's web page is www.essential.org/tap/tap.html