would like that choice to be exercised for them by the government. There is also very little interest in transaction-based exchange, where an access code would have to be dialed each time a call is made. As some customers stated: "users should not have to dial access codes". Instead, most customers would like to choose one specific company from a set of companies. For several customers that specific company would be Bell Atlantic. Residential customers prefer Bell Atlantic more than business customers do. For a significant number of customers, however, the preferred Phone Company would be someone other than Bell Atlantic.
Some business customers who had greater technical sophistication provided some creative solutions to address these issues:
- "I would program my PBX to use the least cost system as the first choice; use other providers for overflow"
- "State should allow computer to pick the cheapest rate for the call or set up a non-profit that could provide this service"
While a significant number of customers seem to be content to stay with Bell Atlantic as their local provider, about an equal number either intend to switch or are not certain about their future behaviors.
Reasons for Switching
The main reason for the interest in local competition is not dissatisfaction with Bell Atlantic service. On the contrary, customers give Bell Atlantic high marks. This is particularly true for residential customers who rate Bell Atlantic higher than long distance or cable TV service. Business customers, on the other hand, rate long distance providers more favorably than local service.
To some extent, customers are interested in integrated
services. Many would like getting their voice, data, wireless, phone,
cable TV and Internet service from one provider. For residential customers
who want such integrated services, Bell Atlantic is the preferred provider.
Interestingly enough, for business customers, Cable TV service providers
seem to offer a more attractive proposition even though there is very
little experience with Cable TV companies providing integrated services
or even voice services to the Rhode Island market.
RITIM believes that as local phone alternatives become available, switching among local service providers will be substantial. For instance, 33% of residential customers and 43% of business customers have changed their long distance provider in the past. There is substantial use of 10-10 service by residential customers, even if it is not used consistently. Even for Internet service, a relatively new service with limited penetration among the sample, customers have changed their providers. When alternatives to Bell Atlantic become available at the local level, we expect similarly strong switching behaviors to occur.