Archives: Internet

On April 18, 2005 Verizon Communications announced that it was going to take a step in the direction of offering stand alone high speed internet – DSL without phone service – as long as consumers meet the conditions.

According to Mark Cooper, Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America, “strict rules will prohibit many of Verizon’s customers from taking advantage of this new service.” He says that, “this will not remove the significant barrier to competition that Verizon’s forced bundling of DSL and voice service creates.  Well over 90 percent of Verizon’s customers will still be forced to buy Verizon’s voice service when they buy DSL service.”

An April 19, 2005 article in the New York Times details the conditions, “Verizon said it would offer stand-alone D.S.L., but only to existing customers and only if they agreed to move their landline phone number to a wireless carrier or to a company that offered Internet-based telephone service, like Vonage or a cable company.

Customers would not be allowed to transfer their telephone number to smaller phone companies that lease space on Verizon's network to send and receive calls.

The stand-alone service, however, would not be available to new customers who want to sign up for Internet access alone.”

The article also says that consumer groups, “have criticized the nation's major telephone companies for failing to offer stand-alone D.S.L., which would allow consumers to buy high-speed Internet services without having to pay for phone service.”

According to Gene Kimmelman, "[t]his is much less than what consumers need to have a vibrant, competitive marketplace,"

To read more about purchasing DSL see Consumer Tips: Checklist: Before Purchasing Internet Service.