Re: analog equipment and the FCC

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:05:58 -0700, "Richard Crowley"
<rcrowley@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

...

Perhaps you are too young to remember the bad old days when
there was only one long-distance provider, and you could connect
only telco-owned equipment to the line, etc.

...

You mean the bad old days when telemarketers didn't exist, the phone
service was cheap and reliable with no hidden fees and charges,
service calls were answered 24/7, handled within a day and were free,
installation was free, a human operator was available to assist you
and was free, you called "0" for emergencies and a human who knew your
town answered the call and connected you to help, directory assistance
was free and the operator actually helped you find what/who you
needed, and if you had a question about your bill it was handled by a
human in an office across town who if necessary you could go and see
face-to-face instead of by a droid working off a canned script in a
call centre in Mumbai?

Wireline telecommunications is one of those areas that a tightly
regulated monopoly, forced by the government to place public good and
consumer equity above all other considerations and in return to be
guaranteed to make a reasonable profit, makes perfect sense.
Deregulation was not for the benefit of the consumer, it was for the
benefit of corporate greed and the consumer be damned.
.