WaterWings
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Posts: 8223
Registered: 2-3-2006
Location: Lexington KY (CB)
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KY telephone companies want to do away with Land Lines in rural areas!
I haven't had a land line in my home in 6 years and don't miss it. For some though I can see this as their only means of communicating with the
outside world.
Kentucky telephone companies pushing for option to end basic service
By John Cheves jcheves@herald-leader.com
Posted: 6:19pm on Feb 16, 2012; By John Cheves Herald-Leader
FRANKFORT Kentucky's telephone industry wants the option to end basic phone service in less profitable parts of their territories if other
communications options, such as cell phones or the Internet, are available in the area.
The industry hopes to build on its 2006 legislative success in deregulating basic land-line phone service, arguing that it needs to shift its
resources to cell phone and broadband communications.
But consumer advocates warn that rural communities, the poor and the elderly could be among those left behind if basic phone service disappears.
"For a lot of people in Eastern Kentucky, their land line is their life line," said Cathy Allgood Murphy, AARP Kentucky's associate state director.
"They may not be able to afford an Internet connection, and they don't have cell phones because their communities, in the mountains, don't get cell
phone reception."
The industry is pushing Senate Bill 135, referred to as "the AT&T bill" by its sponsor and others because it originated with that company's lobbyists.
The bill would strip the Kentucky Public Service Commission of most of its remaining oversight of basic phone service provided by the three major
carriers AT&T, Windstream and Cincinnati Bell such as the power to initiate investigations into service problems.
More significant, critics say, the bill would let the companies end basic phone service in less profitable parts of their territories if other
communications options. State law now requires the companies to serve as "carriers of last resort" for households throughout their territories.
AT&T says it must follow where the market leads. Among its customers, land line usage has dropped 50 percent over the last 10 years and wireless usage
has jumped 300 percent, said AT&T spokesman Brad Rateike.
"This is one of the reasons we (wanted to buy) T-Mobile, so we could build out the wireless spectrum and offer higher speeds and higher quality
coverage to all of Kentucky, including Harlan County," Rateike said.
The Public Service Commission, which regulates many of the state's utilities, already has lost much of its authority over traditional phone carriers,
following the General Assembly's passage of a deregulation bill in 2006.
As of last summer, for example, the PSC no longer can rule on price increases for carriers that choose to deregulate. Since then, AT&T and Cincinnati
Bell have notified the PSC of increases for basic residential phone service. Cincinnati Bell's monthly price rose by 17 percent to $19.75, according
to the PSC, while AT&T's cheapest price group rose by 20 percent to $18.20 per month.
Traditional phone carriers say it's unfair to burden them with state regulations and service requirements that don't apply to their cable and wireless
competitors. But some communities that depend on land lines could be abandoned under the bill, said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources
Council.
Given a choice, the phone carriers may drop "those on fixed and low incomes, those in hard-to-serve locations and those for whom the cost of service
does not justify continued service absent the legal obligation to do so," FitzGerald said.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, said he doesn't want households to lose any existing phone service. Hornback said he will
change the language in his bill to make that clear after it's scheduled for a committee vote as early as next week.
"There will be no abandonment," Hornback said Thursday. "It doesn't state that specifically in its current language, and we've heard some concerns, so
that will be added."
Hornback said his bill started as a proposal from AT&T lobbyists, who approached him because they recognized his pro-business sensibilities.
"People call it the AT&T bill because that's the biggest company," Hornback said. "But it helps Windstream and the others, too."
AT&T is a significant force in Frankfort. It employs 31 legislative lobbyists, including a former PSC vice chairwoman and past chairs of the
state Democratic and Republican parties. Its political action committee has given at least $91,000 in state campaign donations since 2007. (
OH, now I see the real problem here!  )
Also Thursday, the telephone industry testified against House Bill 209, which would require phone carriers to "make every effort" to fix service
outages within 24 hours.
There would be no penalty if carriers failed to act in 24 hours, but they would have to report problems to the PSC in any month during which they
failed to clear 85 percent of their outages within that time.
REST of story here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/02/16/2071948/kentucky-telephon...
WHATEVER floats your boat Dude!
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E_HILLMAN
Master Member
Posts: 6414
Registered: 3-23-2006
Location: North Central KY (Leesburg) JRM
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But this "and they don't have cell phones because their communities, in the mountains, don't get cell phone reception." SHould not matter as much
since the request is for this "end basic phone service in less profitable parts of their territories if other communications options, such as cell
phones or the Internet, are available in the area." If they stick to that all should be ok. I understand the phone companies have to stay
profitable. It is not their "duty" to go under to make sure someone has a phone. IMO. However if they stick to their statement it might prove to
be more expensive for them since they would have a lot of line to get service to someone that does not have cell signal but no one else supporting the
$ on that line.
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Buy Made in the USA, the job you save just might be your own.
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squakmeister
Master Member
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Registered: 5-13-2007
Location: Pleasant Hill
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They will take my landline from me only if they shoot me. My contract can only be cancelled for non
payment of by me or my wife. Cell phone dependability is still highly questionable during weather
related hazards. In 55 years I have never lost my landline service and I'm not about to loose it now.
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E_HILLMAN
Master Member
Posts: 6414
Registered: 3-23-2006
Location: North Central KY (Leesburg) JRM
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You must live in town. Where I grew up the only thing "land" about the landline was the part of the pole in the ground that was somewhere in the 20
miles to town going to break, fall, get lightning, etc each storm and then be out for days. The last ice storm the only phones we had for over a
month were cell phones.
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Buy Made in the USA, the job you save just might be your own.
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ReadyOarKnot
Senior Member
Posts: 375
Registered: 11-19-2003
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We have SCRTC as our provider. During the ice storm we never lost our land line. The people in Hart and Grayson counties had no cell phone service
for 3-7 weeks as the cell phone providers didn't have generators, batteries or back up power sources on their towers. I have spotty cell phone
service at best at home and we live on a major state highway. We don't live in the sticks, backwoods or off the beaten path. If not for SCRTC land
line, I'd have no internet, no video link and no land line as there are very limited choices where we live. Rural land lines are still needed today
IMHO.
We have family members who have removed land lines from their homes and rely solely on their cell phones. 3 family members are cosidering adding
their land line back for safety and convenience.
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E_HILLMAN
Master Member
Posts: 6414
Registered: 3-23-2006
Location: North Central KY (Leesburg) JRM
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Mood: :-)
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Guess it depends on the area. 
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Buy Made in the USA, the job you save just might be your own.
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denmarkshepherds
Master Member
Posts: 3417
Registered: 7-18-2007
Location: Russell Co., Lake Cumberland USA
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Mood: We dont give a (Wolf Creek) DAM how you did it up north
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Cell service SUCKS here...at least for me.
This house still protected by GOD, guns, and German Shepherds...
'round here we speak AMERICAN!
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Soak-up-the-Sun
Master Member
Posts: 1188
Registered: 12-26-2010
Location: Elizabethtown, KY/GHD
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Mood: Waiting impatiently for: "85 degrees with abundant sunshine"
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My opinion-- land lines in Ky. will remain forever, basic infrasructure already in place to keep it that way. Nearly impossible for smaller phone
companies like Bluegrass Cellular, Brandenburg, etc. to compete unless they put up more cell towers. Topography east of I-65 and south of I-64 is
tough. These Ky. companies want to provide service, making more money doing it--however, it costs ALOT of $$$ to put up a tower, thereby owning
rights and defeating the roaming costs. Just get used to the idea it's always gonna cost more to have a phone at the lake or other rural areas. Who
wants more towers on these green mountains overlooking our lakes, rivers and rolling hilltops in God's country????
Let's just boycott phone use while at the lake, only use it for emergencies, okay??!! 
.....Official Lake Cumberland Tourism Director, And Purveyor To All Those Who Seek Wit, Wisdom, Whiskey And Wile While At My Bar....
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WaterWings
Super Administrator
Posts: 8223
Registered: 2-3-2006
Location: Lexington KY (CB)
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Bill that could end basic phone service for some clears Senate panel
By John Cheves jcheves@herald-leader.com
Posted: 3:36pm on Mar 13, 2012
FRANKFORT A Senate panel on Tuesday approved a bill drafted by AT&T that would further diminish state regulation of the company and allow it to end
basic phone service in less profitable parts of its service areas.
Opponents said Senate Bill 12 would let the state's three major phone carriers AT&T, Windstream and Cincinnati Bell abandon rural communities
where poor and elderly residents depend on basic land-line service, including operator assistance and 911.
AT&T hopes to force those residents to upgrade to more expensive service plans they don't need and can't afford, such as wireless or broadband,
opponents said.
"This bill represents a grave threat to continued, stand-alone, basic telephone service for many Kentuckians who don't have the luxury of access to
Twitter and all the things that we in urban areas tend to take for granted," said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council.
Mary Pat Regan, president of AT&T Kentucky, said she and other executives at the company have heard the concerns of the bill's opponents and tried to
address them with modified language presented Tuesday.
The bill would affect new customers but wouldn't affect prices or end basic land-line service, such as 911, for existing customers, Regan told
lawmakers. Instead, it would spur innovation and create jobs, she said.
"Unfortunately, you've heard some misleading claims made about Senate Bill 12, and I just want to set the record straight," Regan said. "Simply said,
it's about updating Kentucky's telecommunications law by reducing monopoly-era Band-Aids that apply only to traditional phone service providers."
However, critics said the language of the bill does not explicitly prohibit the phone carriers from abandoning their existing basic land-line service
customers, despite the assurances of AT&T. They also said the bill could allow land-line service to be withdrawn from an area even if there wasn't a
competing and functionally equivalent service available to residents.
State law requires the companies to provide basic land-line service as the "carriers of last resort" for households throughout their territories. It
also requires the Kentucky Public Service Commission to investigate and resolve consumer complaints. SB 12 would scrap all of that language.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Paul Hornback, sat flanked by two AT&T executives who helped write the measure as he testified to the Senate Committee on
Economic Development, Tourism and Labor. AT&T also has been pushing similar measures in other state capitals this year.
The bill would eliminate needless, innovation-stifling regulation of local phone service by the PSC without harming consumers, said Hornback,
R-Shelbyville.
"To me, (the bill) takes the next step in modernizing telecommunications in the state of Kentucky," he told the panel. "Kentucky's telecommunications
infrastructure must accommodate the rapidly changing market and new technologies that consumers are demanding."
The PSC, which regulates many of the state's utilities, lost much of its authority over traditional phone carriers after the legislature's passage of
a 2006 deregulation bill. For example, as of last summer, the PSC no longer may rule on prices for any carriers that choose to deregulate.
AT&T and Cincinnati Bell have chosen to deregulate and recently increased their prices for basic residential phone service.
Hornback said more regulatory burdens must be lifted so AT&T can afford to invest in a modern communications system throughout Kentucky, including
rural areas.
The bill would not permit AT&T or other major carriers to abandon existing basic land-line service customers, Hornback said. Rather, it would let the
company shift its focus away from maintaining a land-line network in favor of more wireless and broadband options, he said.
AT&T has significant clout in Frankfort. It employs 31 legislative lobbyists, including a former PSC vice chairwoman and past chairs of the state
Democratic and Republican parties, spending about $80,000 last year on legislative lobbying. Its political action committee has given at least $91,000
in state political donations since 2007.
Read REST of story here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/13/2108034/bill-that-could-e...
WHATEVER floats your boat Dude!
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