• Irregulators

  We uploaded “Diss-Connected” into our own custom Chat GPT

  Posted by DrRon Suarez on November 26, 2023 at 7:30 pm

  @bruce Here is our question and the answer provided by our “Broadband Community Advisor:”

  Did telecommunications companies bill customers for fiber that they never delivered?

  Broadband Community Advisor

  Yes, telecommunications companies have billed customers for fiber upgrades that were never delivered. The evidence indicates a pattern of misappropriation and misrepresentation by these companies:

  1. Collection of Funds for Undelivered Fiber Upgrades: Big Telecom companies collected billions of dollars from utility customers for fiber-optic upgrades that were never completed. They diverted these funds to other business lines, notably wireless, instead of fulfilling their fiber upgrade commitments​​.

  2. Broken Promises Post-Telecommunications Act of 1996: Following the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which aimed to foster competition, telecom companies pledged to upgrade their entire state utility networks to fiber. This upgrade was supposed to provide high-speed fiber-optic services to all residential and business customers in the U.S., but it did not materialize as promised​​.

  3. Over $500 Billion Paid by Customers for Unfulfilled Upgrades: According to the New Networks Institute, Americans have paid over $500 billion since 1992 for fiber-optic upgrades that were never delivered. This situation has been exacerbated by the use of outdated accounting rules by telecom companies, allowing them to allocate expenses across their businesses in a way that obscured the lack of fiber deployment​​.

  4. Misrepresentation of Fiber Deployments: Telecom companies have misrepresented their fiber deployments, focusing on wireless infrastructure at the expense of promised fiber to the home and office upgrades. This misallocation left many customers with outdated copper lines, despite paying for fiber upgrades​​.

  5. Selective Deployment and Digital Inequality: The Baby Bell companies, which include major players like AT&T and Verizon, selectively deployed fiber only in more profitable areas, neglecting rural and low-income urban areas. This practice contributed to the widening digital divide​​.

  6. Underutilized Fiber Infrastructure: A significant portion of the fiber-optic infrastructure laid by AT&T and Verizon has never been put into service. This “dark fiber” remains unutilized, even though it could be used for municipal open access networks​​.

  7. FCC’s Role in Overlooking Commitments: The FCC has been criticized for not adequately addressing the issue of overcharging for undelivered fiber-optic services and for not holding telecom companies accountable for their state-based broadband commitments​​.

  8. Diversion of Funds to Wireless Networks: Funds intended for upgrading copper lines to fiber were instead used to build fiber lines for wireless networks, benefiting the wireless affiliates of the telecom companies but not the customers who paid for these upgrades​​.

  In summary, there is substantial evidence that telecommunications companies have charged customers for fiber upgrades that were either not delivered or were grossly misrepresented, contributing to digital inequality and a lack of accountability in the industry.

  DrRon Suarez replied 5 months, 2 weeks ago 1 Member · 0 Replies

  • dark fiber
  • fiber
  • State Utilty Networks
  • unutilized
• 0 Replies

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