Speakeasy Unaffected by FCC Ruling 20
NaDrew writes "Speakeasy, the favorite DSL provider of many a Slashdotter, has issued a press release stating that they do not expect to be affected by the FCC ruling allowing ILECs to refuse to lease their lines to third-party providers. This is because the ruling specifically states that CLECs--such as Covad, from whom Speakeasy resells service--are not to be denied unbundled wholesale access to ILEC lines."
ILEC and CLEC (Score:5, Informative)
CLEC = competitive local exchange carrier
ILEC = incumbent local exchange carrier
An ILEC is a telephone company that was providing local service when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted. Compare with CLEC, a company that competes with the already established local telephone business.
(from http://isp.webopedia.com/TERM/I/ILEC.html [webopedia.com])
too bad (Score:4, Insightful)
What you say? (Score:3, Insightful)
Say it ain't so! I can't believe this happened. here is to hoping it never happens again.
Re:What you say? (Score:3, Informative)
What SpeakEasy is stating with their press release is that they will not be affected because unlike smaller ISPs they do not lease their last mile from the telcos themselves. They lease from the last man standing in the world of DSL providers who built their own infrastructure: Covad.
So, SpeakEasy did not say the FCC
I don't think you're quite right about that. (Score:2)
As a rule, Covad still leases the "last mile" of wire from the ILEC. But they don't lease any DSL equipment.
Earthlink (for instance, I think) actually leases the DSL line from the ILEC AND the spot in the ILEC's DSLAM. So earthlink can offer DSL by only providing uplink bandwidth and everything else is virtual.
I have DSL through Cyberonic. From talking to their techs, the impression I have is that Cyberonic has the same sort of setup Speakeasy does, but replace Covad w
Will it help expand their service? (Score:2)
I also loved their policy of "you paid for your bandwidth... use it how you want", even to the point of assisting users in reselling the service to their neighbors.
When I moved to my new house in Coatesville, PA [google.com], I called Speakeasy to transfer the service, bu
Re:Will it help expand their service? (Score:3, Informative)
Second, I believe that Speakeasy does not have any sort of agreement with Verizon-owned lines. Speakeasy only has agreements with a few CLECs to bundle with their services. For instance, a COVAD tech came to install my connection (which was over SBC lines). Speakeasy, AFAIK, just routes you over their private network and throws in the other value-added packages and acts as a liason between your ILEC and CLEC.
Certainly,
Re:Will it help expand their service? (Score:3, Insightful)
Covad is more prevalent in SBC and ex-Bell areas because SBC owns a chunk (approximately 20%, as I recall) of Covad, and has somewhat of a vested interest in keeping them alive. In addition, SBC's SDSL service is actually provisioned over Covad's network, sin
Re:Will it help expand their service? (Score:2)
Re:Will it help expand their service? (Score:2)
Speakeasy can't upgrade the lines because they don't own them. The only thing they can do if you have crappy lines is ask Verizon nicely to do some upgrades. Its the same thing with all ILECs (the line owners). If you aren't getting your DSL through the ILEC, then the best your ISP can do is ask the them to fix the problem. When all is said and done, you're at the ILEC's whim.
Re:Will it help expand their service? (Score:2)
When I called asking about service they said that Convad was not here. They still offered me service but at a much higher cost and limited services.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Will it help expand their service? (Score:2)
Definition of "Denied" (Score:2)
"Not to be denied" != fairly priced.
Who's got more lawyers, Verizon or Speakeasy?
Re:Definition of "Denied" (Score:2)
Re:Definition of "Denied" (Score:2)
Nope. Verizon can say the same thing to Covad. Verizon can charge them whatever they want, so long as they don't "deny" to sell it to them. The definition of "deny" will no-doubt be left to a murder of lawyers.
Re: (Score:2)
And there was much rejoicing! (Score:2)