This is NOT about a transition to a VOIP based network. This is about providing universal broadband access. To quote from the FCC Public Notice:
In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("Recovery Act"), Congress directed
the Commission to create a national broadband plan by February 17, 2010, that seeks to "ensure that all
people of the United States have access to broadband capability and ... establish[es] benchmarks for
meeting that goal."1 Among other things, the Commission is to provide "an analysis of the most effective
and efficient mechanism for ensuring broadband access by all people of the United States"2 and "a
detailed strategy for achieving affordability of such service and maximum utilization of broadband
infrastructure and service by the public."
The point of this move by the FCC is to respond to a mandate from the Congress of the United States to move from an obsolete model of providing universal dial tone on the POTS network to provide universal broadband access. The FCC is asking for comment for their proposal that once universal broadband access is delivered, would we really need POTS lines for anything other than Neo and Morpheus to come and visit us? Or should they provide two expensive subsidized networks? Should rural network subscribers (such as myself) have TWO expensive subsidized networks, a subsidized broadband access and a subsidized POTS access? Or could the broadband access be delivered in such a way that the services we enjoy with POTS (911 calls, calls to grandma, faxes, ability to tunnel through the POTS network to other network providers) be effectively delivered with a standardized national broadband infrastructure?