From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Lenona  wrote:   
      
   >I heard, recently, that they could be gone in three years.   
      
   This is a bullshit issue.   
      
   This goes back to the breakup of AT&T in 1982 and how "competition" was   
   implemented. The successor Regional Bell Operating Companies (nearly all   
   of which merged into one massive company, so what was the point of the   
   breakup) were required to offer landlines at wholesale rates to   
   competing services that weren't in a position to build their own   
   neighborhood lines. New services offered by the RBOCs are not subject to   
   the court order requiring wholesale rates.   
      
   There's effectively competition between Darryl and this is my other   
   brother Darryl: ex-phone company services and whatever cable offers.   
   Pretty much no one else built out a local network.   
      
   Your competition is between paragons of lousy subscriber service.   
      
   It's not a technology issue nor a maintenance issue. It's how they got   
   out from under a court decision.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)