DE PSC Staff wants $28.02 ISDN - FLAT RATE, for Bell Atlantic

[James Love <love@Essential.ORG>]

CPT Note on Delaware ISDN pricing action
April 3, 1996

The Delaware Public Service Commission staff has recommeded that Bell 
Atlantic be required to price residential ISDN at $28.02 per month, flat 
rate, for a 128 Kbps connection.  There would be no usage charges at all, 
and the line could be used for voice or data. 

   The rate would be broked down as follows:

	cost of dialtone (POTS)      $9.40
        Touch Tone Service             .60
        Upgrade to ISDN line         12.92
        Fee for Unlimited Usage       1.60
        Subscriber Line Charge        3.50
 
              total                $ 28.02


The Delaware PSC staff recommendation follows a similar recommendation by
the Washington DC staff for a $32 flat rate tariff.  Bell Atlantic is
seeking charges based upon per minute usage charges which range from 1 to
4 cents per minute, depending upon how and when the line is used.  The
cost of a "nailed up" ISDN line under the BA proposal is more than $1,200
per month, and the cost of 100 hours of usage would be around $200 per
month, under the rates that BA filed. 

The PSC DE staff recommendation of $28.02 illustrates the degree of price
gouging in the Bell Atlantic service areas.  Virginia, Maryland and New
Jersey are also currently seeking lower Bell Atlantic ISDN tariffs, and
West Virginia and Pennsylvania are expected to take a harder look at the
BA tariffs at the end of next year. 

NYNEX, US WEST and Bell Atlantic ISDN tariffs are among the highest in 
the country, and have substantially hurt the deployment of ISDN as a 
technology that could provide immediate and dramatic improvements on the 
speed and quality of home internet connections.

The Consumer Project on Technology is happy to help consumers who want to 
challenge local ISDN tariffs in their own states.  Our web page on ISDN 
tariffs is:

   http://www.essential.org/cpt/isdn/isdn.html

   jamie
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James Love / love@tap.org / P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax 202/234-5176
Center for Study of Responsive Law
   Consumer Project on Technology; http://www.essential.org/cpt
   Taxpayer Assets Project; http://www.tap.org
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