Best of the ISP-Lists

Reaching the Next Town

Members of the ISP-CLEC list discuss providing local access to two neighboring towns that have different telephone exchanges.

[September 21, 2000]

On the ISP-CLEC list in September, JNG asked:

"Say an ISP/CLEC wants to let the ISP customer have as many 'local' customers as possible. The ISP wants to provide local access to two towns, but it's located only in one of them, and connecting from one to the other is not a local call. How can the ISP accomplish this?"

FG offered a straightforward solution:

"If the ISP wants to be local to a rate center, it needs an NPA-NXX code whose rate center is local to that ILEC rate center. That's why CLECs often have so many NPA-NXX codes, so they can be local to many places. So the CLEC needs an NPA-NXX code that's local to the second town, which it can get by leasing dedicated ILEC transport facilities into the second town and colocating in the ILEC's CO."

But a number of respondents observed that there might be significant logistical challenges:

[WSM explained] "What you describe ('virtual NXX') is being challenged by the ILECs as not really local. SBC, for example, claims it is really a Foreign Exchange Service. The bottom line is that, in smaller towns, the CLEC may end up paying the ILEC a per-minute rate for calls from ILEC end users in the small town to ISPs served by virtual NXXs. I've been arguing on behalf of ISPs that this will increase costs and eliminate flat rate Internet access in non-urban areas."

[BDH added] "The issue of 'virtual NXX' services is a bit complex. The problem arises when a decision is made to offer a customer physically located in LCA 'A' a phone number in LCA 'B' so they can offer service to customers in LCA 'B' through a local call. The issue becomes tariffing for Foreign Exchange Service. Perhaps the simplest way around the issue is to charge the CLEC customer a fee for 'extended local calling area services.'"

—End