..and life is probably going to get a lot more interesting for service providers. All today, we have leaders in the field with completely opposite views of the word: U.S. Broadband Policy Exists -- And Works, Claims NTIA's Gallagher http://www.advancedippipeline.com/169600336 [and] Nortel chief: U.S. needs new broadband vision http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/08/23/HNnortelchief_1.html And just to make life more fun, it looks like there's an effort afoot to get VoIP consumers to pay (read: tax) into the USF: New taxes could slam Net phone users http://news.com.com/New+taxes+could+slam+Net+phone+users/2100-7352_3-5842237... So, aren't you glad that life isn't boring? ;-) - ferg -- "Gary E. Miller" <gem@rellim.com> wrote: You forget the third choice the AT&T taught us so well before the big breakup: Less broadband at higher prices. Just look at how hard it has been to get Qwest to fulfill their promises of more broadband outside of the cities in return for less state control over prices. -- "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson Engineering Architecture for the Internet fergdawg@netzero.net or fergdawg@sbcglobal.net ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/