How should residential ISDN BRI Service be priced?
A12. The Commission should price residential BRI ISDN as close to the incremental cost of the service as possible. It is in the public interest to expand deployment of ISDN and other higher bandwidth technologies. Pricing is the major barrier to deployment of ISDN services today. Bell Atlantic’s call-pack options are far too complex, and require consumers to anticipate and pay for usage that they never need. The Commission should reject the call pack approach as needlessly complex, and replace it with three options. First, a fully metered option, with usage fees in the neighborhood of 10 cents per hour, or another number which is no more than 10 to 20 percent higher than their direct costs. Second, a “virtual flat rate” (VFR) option with a 200 hour usage allowance. The VFR option would not constrain normal dial-in users, while preserving an incentive to hang up the line when it is not in use. We believe the VFR option should be priced under $20 per month. Third, BA should offer a flat
