4 edits | It's about access to the PIPELINE Hell no! Phone companies, right now, barely do what they do now BADLY, let alone with a semblance of customer service and price competitiveness (e.g. BellSouth).
[Please note -- this is my experience with BellSouth -- SBC or Verizon may be better. Not all experiences will be the same. Read on...]
I got rid of my phone company a long time ago. I think it's time for them to realize that customers want choice. I need a pipeline to the Internet, and my damned cable company gives me that in spades with only minor hiccups. I can use the cable company's TV service and save a little on my pipeline, or I can go with Dish or DirecTV or no TV at all.
I guarantee that I would NOT want to bundle (little or no customer choice) shitty, limited POTS phone service (assuming that's what the telcos would do -- BellSouth would in a heartbeat, I'd bet) with TV over DSL. That's three damned services.
If they offer fiber to the home and run the IPTV through that, then that's two damned services from a telco that most likely will riddle my monthly bill with mystery charges. Well -- it'd still be three, 'cause they'd want me to use their phone service too. Always the phone service.
I do fine with Comcast HSI, Vonage VoIP, and television with Comcast (or DTV, Dish, etc. if I want it).
My poor neighbor bought into the whole DirecTV, BellSouth DSL, BellSouth long distance, etc. package across the street, and she hates it. It's SOOOO expensive. It's wrong. Just wrong.
The PIPELINE is the key. Once I have access to the pipeline, I don't want your other services. If I have to use them, then I find another pipeline. That's all there is to it.
IronChefMorimoto
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