what will all you who work for private isp's be doing in a few years?

Wed May 11 19:01:15 UTC 2005

On Wed, 2005-05-11 at 12:43 -0600, Shaun Bryant wrote:
> I have to second this one, having used Comcast and qwest. I look for
> the small guy, they have something to loss if I drop them and switch.
> I also like that I can drive down to there office and sit on someone's
> desk if I am not getting the service I want.

OK, I agree with sitting on someone's desk when needed as well as
rooting for the small guy.  But what happens when <insert_any_ilec>
gobbles up all the small "competitors"?  We will be back at square one
having 256K competing against 5MB (dollar for dollar) in large
territories.  What incentive is there, at that point, for
<insert_any_ilec> to continue rolling out inferior DSL service in areas
where big-cable already has coverage?  It is true that there are areas
where DSL can compete, but that technology is not increasing fast enough
to trump cable.  Therefore <insert_any_ilec> is spending their research
money elsewhere (i.e. wireless).

-Jim P.