AT&T’s IP trials “are not what they purport...

AT&T’s IP trials “are not what they purport to be” and are “an effort to cast aside a significant number of people and render poorer service to many others,” NASUCA commented (http://bit.ly/1pGUxh9) Monday in FCC docket 14-28. AT&T’s plans should be rejected until it addresses the concerns, NASUCA said. “What AT&T is seeking is a post-transition network in which it can jettison the customers in higher-cost, lower-revenue areas within exchanges.” Four percent of the 4,388 occupied units in Carbon Hill, Alabama, where AT&T Is testing the IP transition, will be “abandoned,” and 41 percent of Carbon Hill customers will be migrated to AT&T wireless, said the group. “In the parts of the wire centers where AT&T plans to withdraw wireline service, it will simply abandon the copper wire that is located there, after trying to sell it to the CLECs.” NASUCA “appears to be ill-informed about our trials, as their letter contains a number of inaccuracies,” an AT&T spokesman said. “For example, we are on the record saying that we are responsible for ensuring customers are connected before discontinuing existing TDM services. AT&T will continue to work constructively with the FCC and other policy makers to understand the dynamics of the IP transition and how they will impact consumers."