castledoom.com

[DarkShinji250]

From Slashdot.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/06/003204&from=rss

Opinions people?

[JuntaJoe]

Well, if they want to grab the monopoly again then they had better buy Lucent and rescue those labs.

[NibbyCat]

Ah, yes, Oedipus for businesses...

[Eddy]

I'm leery of any monopoly, especially for something as vital as our communications network.

[s_stabeler]

actually, sometimes having a monopoly for something that vital is a good thing, look at what has happened with the arguments over BT over here, BT can't even properly control it's own network, while last time I checked, the few other companies that have got their own network actually can, so a monopoly can be good- plus, having a monopoly measn that it could be controlled for the good of the people, if the government gets involved and is sensible enough not to meddle too beuracratically. loonat the royal mail in britain- it's universal service might be threatened by the loss of a monopoly.

[JuntaJoe]

I don't see it as a monopoly threat like it was before. Back when the split was forced, the land line trelephone system controlled 95% of communications and there were no resellers out there.

A person can go with cell phones, cable, VOIP, and satellite to conduct various communication traffic now.

Given the purchase of Bell South, I expect SBC has hit its credit limit for a few years and unlikely to buy another Bell in the near term.

These other Bells will now see a serious competitor out there and are likely to do a bit of merging themselves.

The split forced the old Ma Bell into 7 or 8 parts. I see the future having only two Bells of large stature when the dust clears. The two giants will compete hard and have to watch out for other communication media from gaining ground.

[s_stabeler]

of course, if next it moves into other communications areas.............. but Joe is right, a landline monopoly really can only swindle those who don't want to or can't use other forms of communication, in fact, I have to wonder if there is more competition, if a monopoly will occur, but only becasue only one company can survive the brutal competition from other meyhods of communication, after all, VOIP gets cheaper as it becomes more universal ( and now, some products even have 911/ whatever emergency number is in use in your country ( 999 in britain, though i think a couple of others are answered as well, in case foriegn visitors ring the wrong number), so, even if you tired to call the police, and whatever criminal that was threatening you kicked out the power crod, or otherwise disabled your connection, then the police would still be able to come, and it'd probably be one surprised crook, as I doubt that many of them realise that VOIP can now have the emergency services track your location), mainly as VIOP-VOIP calls are the cheapest ( I think some providers actually provbide VOIP-VOIP calls free if it is numbers o the same VOIP network)

[DarkShinji250]

So there is no real threat here? I just see monopolies as being bad. Take Microsoft for instance. Or to go further back, Standard Oil.

But, yeah, when you consider all the alternatives you have on the market right now a monopoly on land lines isn't something that should have people jumping up and down screaming, "There are anti-trust laws!"

[JuntaJoe]

Now if the new ATT/SBS/Bell South tried to leverage a Comcast or Clear Channel buyout then I'd hope the regulators put down their coffee cups and deal with it.

[DarkShinji250]

But we're not only talking land lines here we're talking about Broadband internet access. They'll have a major portion of the DSL market.

[JuntaJoe]

DSL is land line. And you have cable and satellite to compete for high speed service.