HomeMy WebLinkAbout20120524Comments.pdfJean Jewell
From: maneeshpangasa@gmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 5:31 PM
To: Jean Jewell; Beverly Barker; Gene Fadness
Subject: PUC Comment Form
A Comment from Maneesh Pangasa follows:
Case Number: NF-t2--e1 Af -r-/2-O3
Name: Maneesh Pangasa
Address: 3562 South 18th Avenue
City: Yuma
State: AZ
Zip: 85365
Daytime Telephone: 9284468999
Contact E-Mail: maneeshpangasa(majl.com Name of Utility Company: CenturyLink
Acknowledge: acknowledge
Please describe your comment briefly:
Deregulation of telecommunications and cable companies have failed to serve the public
interest. The wire-line broadband market is a duopoly headed for a cable monopoly if Verizon
Wireless gets its sweetheart deals with Big Cable companies approved. Competition mandates
are a must and a wireless divestiture of AT&T and Verizon should occur. That being said I
understand CenturyLink wants a law in Idaho that Qwest/US West had to comply with and did for
the past 22 years overturned requiring it to repair service when service is down in 24 hours
or provide one month of service free of charge. Giant telecoms are threatening universal
service for basic telephone users and even universal broadband service for basic DSL etc. By
the way it may be time for a cable broadband divestiture considering the way Comcast's
unequal data caps exempt their video traffic but not competing online services. I urge the
State of Idaho's Public Utilites Commission (and would urge Arizona's as well where I live)
to not give in to these lobbying efforts and demands for more deregulation. We need
competition mandates for public utilities and to protect universal service. It is time to
breakup the monopolies.
The form submitted on http://www.Duc.idaho.gov/forms/jpuc1/ipuc.hml
IP address is 98.145.115.163
Jean Jewell
From: maneeshpangasa@me.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 6:05 PM
To: Jean Jewell; Beverly Barker; Gene Fadness
Subject: PUC Comment Form
A Comment from Maneesh Pangasa follows:
Case Number: tt1 -=127—01 G A/9 4~-/9€03
Name: Maneesh Pangasa
Address: 3562 South 18th Avenue
City: Yuma
State: AZ
Zip: 85365
Daytime Telephone: 9284468999
Contact E-Mail: maneeshpangasame.com
Name of Utility Company: CenturyLink
Acknowledge: acknowledge
Please describe your comment briefly:
To the Idaho Public Utilites Commission:
I just filed comments critical of CenturyL1nks proposal being scrutinized in this
proceeding. I'd like to add that while CenturyLink is lobbying to get a law requiring them to
repair service when down within 24-48 hours or to provide a month of free service to
subscribers. Despite the apparent contradiction that delivering reduced service is better for
consumers, the PUC has been negotiating a compromise, offering to eliminate the service
credit requirement and extend the window for repairs to 48 hours.
Before they do, they might want to review CenturyLink's performance in Arizona, where the
company has been caught installing repaired phone lines in pavement cracks and atop public
roadways. The PUC staff questioned claims made by both CenturyLink and Frontier
Communications, another phone company that supports the repeal of the repair rules.
"CenturyLink argues that a large percentage of customers now have access to wireless and
broadband voice services," the staff report says. "For CenturyLink's legacy Qwest customers
located in urban areas, this may be true. It may not be true for customers in the very rual
parts of CenturyLink's service territory. When wireline service fails, few, if any,
alternative communication services are available in some rural areas."
The PUC staff also argued the impact on small business in Idaho could be significant. Small
businesses still rely overwhelmingly on traditional landline services to conduct business and
process credit card payments. Prolonged outages could create significant economic harm for
affected customers.
The form submitted on http://www.puc.idaho.gov/forms/ipucl/ipuc.html
IP address is 98.145.115.163
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