Why States Must Stop Treating Your Smartphone Like A Dumb Rotary Phone

Plain old telephone service has been dying a slow death in the US since the turn of the century. For much of the 20^th century, almost every American household used only POTS to make a phone call. Now, only 1.3 percent of households rely on POTS to do so. What happened? Consumers flocked to mobile and Voice over Internet Protocol—advanced platforms that did not exist during the heyday of POTS’s monopoly reign. This is not news to the tens of millions of Americans who cut their telephone cords years ago and embraced mobile telephony or VoIP and all the advanced features they offer, like nationwide calling and the go-anywhere convenience of a cellphone. Unfortunately, for some state policymakers, the horse and buggy that is POTS continues to loom large, shaping their misinformed view of the advanced communications sector. Worryingly, some states have not only resisted removing outdated POTS laws from their books; they are actively seeking to extend those rules to new communications technologies, which have thrived in a competitive marketplace governed by a deregulatory framework. By doing so, states will undermine investment in new networks, increase prices, and ultimately harm consumers.

[Michael Santorelli is the Director of the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School]