OTI Urges FCC to Ensure No One Gets Left Behind by Technology Transitions
As we transition from a traditional copper-based phone network to one that operates over Internet-Protocol (IP) multimedia networks, consumers are entitled to the same protections they have come to depend on.
Blog Post
Feb. 12, 2015
On February 5, OTI joined twelve other public interest groups in urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure no one is left behind as the phone network transitions from copper to IP, fiber, or wireless. The comments responded to a notice of proposed rulemaking that the FCC put out last November.
Fewer than half of American households now have landlines, but among that minority are some who say their landline would be “very hard to give up.” People still depend on landlines—sometimes for their very lives.
As explained in the comments, many Americans still use landlines for medical alert and home security alarm systems, cardiac arrest monitors, and fax and credit card machines. And while many services that formerly required landline connectivity are becoming available over mobile or IP-based phones, another reason many people prefer landlines for critical services is because landlines work even during power outages.
That’s why we asked the FCC to put the burden on carriers, not consumers, to make sure that landline replacements will work even when the power goes out.
And, consistent with our work on 911 location data, we urged the FCC to protect the privacy of information about consumers who use new networks, including information about their location. “Importantly,” we explained, “if the Commission considers how to continue serving basic consumer protection principles on new technologies now, it can avoid facing the kinds of ‘trade-offs’ that could become necessary if the Commission does not think through how to implement consumer protections before the technology is actually deployed as a basic service.”
We also asked the FCC to apply rules that promote competition to new networks; to establish strong enforcement mechanisms; to ensure that new networks are reliable and trustworthy according to classic network metrics such as call quality, 911 service, cybersecurity, and device interoperability; and to deploy a public education campaign to ensure consumers understand how the tech transitions will affect them.
Read the comments here.