Neither it is a bad phenomenon per se -- it reflect shifing of Internet being add-on service to being a core business of facilities based telecom companies. The ultimate win will be a network which is a lot more useful, with solid and sustainable business model.
--vadim
Of course there are those that simply see the PSTN as just one more way to move IP packets about. Lets see; radio, wireless, sat-link, cable, lans, PSTN, avian-carrier, seismic-wave... lots of ways to move IP packets about. the PSTN is one, but not the only one. And its not clear there is enough capacity in the PSTN to carry all the bits about. Its not clear to me that ATM will continue to work at terabit rates.. SAR may be a bit tough to do at OC768-ish rates. And then there is all that PSTN infrastructure that will have to be replaced... push all that back on the rate payers? you bet. -- --bill