i was under the impresssion that ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) were pretty much only the RBOCs (regional bell operating companies) and that CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers) were the other LECs that sprung up after 96'ish?
No, there have always been hundreds of small, non-RBOC phone companies that have been around for years. All of these are considered ILECs, because they have a monopoly in their service area, and predate 1996. Even in Nevada, for example, there are 13 different ILEC phone companies. The top three are Nevada Bell, Verizon and Sprint (in ILEC mode, not IXC mode), but the other 10 are just as much ILECs, and have outside plants ranging from 27,164 lines down to just 138. The RBOCs would have you believe that they have always owned the world, but it just ain't so. -- Bruce Robertson, President/CEO +1-775-348-7299 Great Basin Internet Services, Inc. fax: +1-775-348-9412 http://www.greatbasin.net