said by rahlquist 
:Maybe it's time for separation of hardware and service. For example here in Georgia, for natural gas service everyone in my area (and possibly all of GA?) use Atlanta Gas and Light to provide the physical plumbing and meter for our gas service. Then you have to pay a marketing company for the actual gas, its all provided over the same pipe.
Maybe the phone companies need to treat the connection/network as a single hardware entity paid a small flat fee and all the carriers need only be soft selling the service.
fwiw, cellphone companies already lease out their networks to MVNOs. And I hate the fact that gas is sold by a company different than the provider.. $15/mo that goes to AGL and another $15 to the provider + $6/mo for "customer service"? Not something I like paying every month to SCANA Energy (these are summer prices.. only gas-consuming device in summer is hot water)
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