Not pointing any fingers but many of you think these small ISP's are just going to die off instead of adapt. Wireless is becoming a better and more reliable technology that in the future will be able to provide faster service then FTTH. I know of atleast one small ISP in Michigan that went from dial-up to deploying wireless. With WiMAX coming out I think you will see a number of smaller ISPs switching to it as a service. It is also much cheaper to deploy a wireless network. Me personally, I think wireless is the future for residential internet/tv/phone. Ross Hosman Charter Communcations --- Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:

Fred Heutte wrote:

...

(1) There will be a market for independent ISPs as long CLECs

I think a more appropriate term would be ALEC

(anti-competitive local exchange carrier)

...That having been said, the problem with the small guys providing access is they can't generally achieve the economies of scale that allow them to compete with the big guys.

I'm on a Charter cablemodem, 3mbps down x 256kbps up, $39.95/month. Verizon is building out FTTH in this area and they're going to be offering 5x2 for $39.95 or 10x5 for $49.95, IIRC. Those are all residential prices, but Charter's actually pretty competitive on business rates too.

And yes, there are people who value service over price, but the price differential is only going to get worse.

-- JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638) Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free" --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"