In the old days, there was one phone company for both local and long-distance calling. When a separate long-distance business grew up, the FCC developed rules for how much the local phone companies could charge to let long-distance calls reach an individual.
Now, a host of calling technologies, including wireless and voice-over-Internet using cable-television lines, need that same access to the local networks.
For the fledgling voice-over-Internet industry and other new technologies, the cost of that access will be crucial. Some phone companies support minimizing or eliminating all charges between companies for carrying voice and data traffic.
Verizon, however, supports freeing network owners to negotiate whatever rates between each other that the market will bear.
In rural areas, the cost of providing telephone service can be prohibitive, with miles and miles of territory with few residences to pay the bills.
So Congress and the FCC set up universal service charges, which are assessed to all local-telephone users to help subsidize rural telephone companies.
But as more people have migrated away from land lines and to wireless or Internet telephone service, the fund has been depleted. Initiatives to wire schools for Internet access also tapped the fund, which has a shortfall of close to $2 billion.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the new chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, plans a series of town meetings to listen to businesses and consumers before deciding how extensively he will want telecommunications laws reviewed.
The FCC has for years pushed the broadcast networks to convert their free, over-the-air stations to digital signals, which offer higher-quality video and audio.
More important to regulators, it would free up valuable spectrum used by the stations, which could be sold at auction or used for public safety purposes.
Broadcasters have been slow to change, and some, including Barton, say the FCC needs to set a firmer deadline.
Staff writers Yuki Noguchi and Frank Ahrens contributed to this report.
