Re: OT Rant Re: ADSL again

["Frank BENNETT (=?iso-2022-jp?B?GyRCJVUlaSVzJS8hISVZJU0lQyVIGyhC?= )" <bennett@example.com>]

On Fri, Jun 08, 2001 at 05:55:09AM +0900, Stephen Lee wrote:
> kei furuuchi <kfur@example.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, Jun 06, 2001 at 10:30:19PM +0900, Jonathan Q wrote:
> > > Don't you have the least bit of
> > > a problem with that sort of Microsoft-esque way of doing
> > > business?  Apparently not, or maybe you do - a tiny bit -
> > > but saving 1300 yen a month is more important.  I don't know
> > > about you, but I don't like doing business with companies 
> > > whom I believe are unethical and sticking up both consumers
> > > and competitors, and I take my business elsewhere.
> > 
> > [snip]
> > 
> > And you didn't answer my second quesion: relation between eaccess and ntt.
> > Is eaccess competing with ntt or just franchising from ntt?
> > Eaccess also could lower the price to match ntt price. as business, they
> > could opt for that. Why don't they. Or they could be not for profit 
> > organization and ask for donation for the price. 
> 
> eaccess is competing with NTT, but they have to rent the pair of copper
> wire that goes from NTT's central office to your house.  And NTT gets to
> decide the rent, so you can see NTT has the advantage here.
> 
> When you apply for eaccess service, either they or you have to ask NTT to
> wire those pair of copper for ADSL service, and connect them to eaccess'
> equipments.  Allegedly NTT dragged their feet doing these for their
> competitions.

No need for the "allegedly".  The non-NTT providers made formal complaints to
the Soumusho (the ministry that has regulatory authority over NTT) about
footdragging, and the Ministry issued at least two public warnings to NTT as a
result.  As if that were not enough, there were also documented complaints
about NTT operators, responding to queries on the supposedly unbiased ADSL
hotline, recommending the NTT ADSL service to customers who asked
__specifically__ for information about other providers -- backing up the
recommendation with the explicit suggestion that getting hooked up by other
service providers might take significantly longer.

NTT says that hookups to competing firms will be slower.  NTT controls the
hookups.  These guys were practically __boasting__ of the control they wield
over other providers.

> It is not (only) an ethical question; it is that if people support NTT's
> tactics, their competition will more likely die out, and without
> competition, NTT will be free to charge you more, have no incentive to improve
> their service, etc etc.

Yes.  The NTT Group (the holding company that controls all of the
subsidiaries into which the state-controlled monopoly was divided) lobbies the
government (against breaking up the Group) on the basis that you need a
massive company to compete on a "global standard".  I don't know whether that
is true or not, but preserving a massive domestic telecoms monopoly is 
certain to get lotsa Japanese consumers fleeced.

Case in point: L-Mode.

Cheers,
Frank Bennett