Now Cogent is also offering free transit for single-homed L3 customers to spite L3 after depeering - majority of such single-homed transit customers are in fact these dsl/dialup ISPs Cogent is after which is why they were willing to make this offer ...

Didn't the free peering offer happen _yesterday_ as a result of the disengagement? It's a tactic. Tommorrow, Level(3) could come out with the same. It's not sustainable by either. Nothing is free. We all know this.

Now with 0 transit cost and 0 equipment cost (mostly old dialup equipment loans for which have by now been paid for)

You mean amortization? Yes, it's about that. They deployed most of the dial gear in 98, 99. I'm sure augmentations happened after that. Anyhow. What you don't understand is the architecture sans TDM switching, ala SS7 bypass. That's what makes the $5 nut a reality.

its no wonder dialup providers are able to offer it at $5/mo if somebody else takes care of the customer support & billing ...

That's what the other $1 to $10 dollars the retailers are charging is for, William. -M<