Without a doubt, this the most important piece of legislation that must be defeated if there is to be any competition for the bells. Two major provisions of the 1996 Telecommunication Act currently prohibit the Bells from carrying long-distance voice or data traffic until they demonstrate that they have opened their local networks to competitors.  It also requires the carriers to lease access to most of their equipment at a steep discount.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted in favor of this bill (bad news) on May 11th, allowing it to move further in the political process.  However, because it was not a solid victory, it appears that this piece of pending legislation will be dead in the water by the time it reaches the senate.

You can view more of the implications here:  http://www.war.iglou.com/

On this page there is contact information for your senator and congressmen.  Although it seem like a drop in the bucket to send a letter, many drops have been falling recently and the representatives are beginning to get the picture.  That is one of the reasons why the bill has not had a warm reception as expected.  Please continue to keep the heat on!

B.  Class Action Suit(s) Status

A major blow was struck two weeks ago when a judge ruled in favor of Verizon's appeal to have the first of three class action suits thrown out. 

Originally, a decision was made in favor of the people that the case should be heard, however Verizon made an appeal on the basis that the fine print states that there are no guarantees with their service.  Obviously the judge thought Verizon's slogan, "Always on" meant something else and not their service.

In any event, the repercussions of this are substantial as it may in effect nullify all of the pending suits that are seeking damages from Verizon for similar reasons.  The lawyers are currently weighing alternative ways of seeing that Verizon is held accountable for their actions and will hopefully find a solution.  Verizonpathetic.com will apprise you via subsequent updates.