This is Internet On The Air...I'm Joan Silvi. Putting toll booths on the information
superhighway. Details, coming up next.
Funding Credit: Internet On The Air is a production of the University of
Michigan School of Information and Michigan radio, made possible by a grant from the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation.
This is Internet On The Air. You are cruising down the Information
Superhighway, when suddenly - you hit traffic. Web sites take forever to download...and
you may receive a message that a particular Web site is stalled. That's because there are
so many other people using the Internet, the data transfer is interrupted by congestion.
The FCC recently turned down a request from local telephone companies to charge
Internet Service Providers, or ISPs...charges based on use per minute...similar to long
distance phone charges. Telephone networks are owned by the local telephone companies. The
FCC ruled that these internet service providers are not really communications companies,
so they cannot be charged a toll rate on the basis of how heavily they use the local phone
system. Instead, they must be charged for the actual calls they make -- more like a
typical business.
21 computer industry giants, including Microsoft and Netscape, complain that local
telephone companies are trying to have it both ways. This coalition says these local
telephone companies made more than $1.3 billion in 1995 from people installing second home
phone lines for Internet access. But the phone companies spent far less to upgrade their
networks to handle the increased use. The FCC has requested comments on this subject as
the agency considers appropriate regulation. Until then, the Information Superhighway
remains toll-free, but rush hour will continue to be a nightmare.
To learn more about toll charges for Internet services, contact our Web site at
www.si.umich.edu/iota. Internet On The Air, I'm Joan Silvi.
