Reverse AT&T-ALEC

Reverse AT&T- ALEC

Reverse AT&T-ALEC is a new community dedicated to dealing with the communications companies and the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC.

The goal is to not only educate the public about the issues but more importantly to take actions to  stop and reverse the current plans of AT&T, Verizon, Centurylink and the cable companies.

The Immediate Threat

There is a massive state and federal campaign by large incumbent phone companies, AT&T, Verizon and Centurylink, who also own AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless, and being joined  with the help of the cable companies,  to remove all regulations, obligations and oversight.

Acting as a groups, with ALEC-member politicians, (who the companies fund via campaign financing or even foundation grants in their areas) they have passed “model deregulatory legislation” in 25 states so far, and there are more attacks in the remaining states. On the Federal Level, AT&T has petitioned the FCC to use this ALEC-based approach to close down the networks nationwide and has got the FCC to set up a ‘transition ask force’ to make this happen. Worse, proposed legislation is expected in Congress to finish the job.

Tied to this, Verizon and AT&T have announced that they are closing down about 50% of their territories– literally shutting off the copper wires, and forcing customers onto expensive wireless services. In Fire Island, New York and other parts of the new York and New Jersey they are no longer repairing the wires — even after a storm, and are forcing customers onto inferior wireless services that can’t handle basic data services, such as alarm circuits or even reliable E911.

How Bad is it? The ALEC-AT&T, Verizon, and Centurylink Plan is to

  • Remove ‘carrier of last resort’, meaning they don’t have to offer you service or even repair your service if it breaks.
  • Raise your rates whenever they feel like it.
  • They have been gutting state commissions ability for oversight, including the quality of your service.
  • They don’t have to upgrade their networks – even if you paid for it with hidden fees.
  • They are blocking competitors for internet or broadband or cable service
  • They have created legislation to block municipalities from offering competitive services, even when the incumbent fails to do anything.

What can You do?

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