Internet Users Flood Fcc With Protests But Agency Says There’s No Plan To Impose Per-Minute Phone Charges For Computer Access

“Read our e-mail. No new charges.”

Internet users across the nation have flooded the Federal Communications Commission with that message, literally swamping its e-mail system.

Computer users are responding in droves to a message sent out on the Internet. The message warned that telephone companies want FCC approval to impose per-minute charges on Internet service providers. The result would be huge telephone bills for computer users who now pay flat fees for unlimited Internet access.

The plan by telephone companies to milk the Internet for more money was noted in last week’s Newsweek magazine.

There’s only one problem.

There is no current proposal before the FCC from phone companies.

The FCC rejected a perminute access charge in May 1997.

“The e-mail that is circulating on the Internet is a year out of date, but we are getting lots of calls and lots of e-mail,” said Mary Beth McCaric, an FCC spokeswoman. “We are not considering a proposal on this.”

The FCC now has a statement posted on its Web page. It says Internet users have been misinformed and asks them to stop sending e-mail protests.

“The FCC decided NOT to allow local telephone companies to impose per-minute access charges on (service providers),” it says. “There is no open comment period. … If you have recently seen a message on the Internet … requesting comments, be aware that this information is inaccurate.”

Local Internet providers have been quizzed and sent e-mail by customers about proposals for new charges, said James Moody, a member of the Washington Association of Internet Providers and president of the Spokane Internet Service Providers Association.

Those groups have fought similar proposals by telephone companies in the past. If a plan is not on the table now, Moody says he expects one will be soon.

“We already pay enough for our phone lines. Of course we are against it,” he said. “If we pay more, we have to pass it on to customers, and they will be up in arms.”

The e-mail going to the FCC now is a trickle, he said, compared with what will happen if a serious per-minute fee is pitched.

Virginia Catey owns PCEZ, a computer store and Internet service provider in Sandpoint. She suggested the recent panic about new charges could have started with telephone companies “testing the water.”

“I think at times they say, ‘Let’s drop this out there and see how it’s accepted. What’s the public opinion, and is anyone paying attention?”’

Phone companies have realized they are missing out on millions of dollars, Moody said. Internet users basically are making free long-distance calls on their computers. Internet use also has doubled in the last few years, he noted.

Telephone companies argue the increased volume is more than their equipment can handle, lines need to be upgraded and new high-tech switching systems must be installed. The Baby Bells want consumers to pay for the upgrades.

But that doesn’t make sense, especially since phone companies also are starting to act as Internet service providers, said Rick McGee, a spokesman for Netlink, a Coeur d’Alene-based provider.

“They are creating their own Internet access and not charging themselves a per-minute access rate,” he said.

The fear is people will be priced off the Internet. That violates the basic concept of a free exchange of information which makes the Internet so popular, McGee said.

“This battle is going to keep coming up,” he said. “I think they (phone companies) hope if they keep bringing it to the table, fewer people will object, until when they ask for comments, only one guy will be sitting in the audience.”

, DataTimes