“The telephone network is obsolete”: Get ready for the all-IP telco (AY&T wants to screw YOU)

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Down thread

Someone wrote : It's time to stand up to Corporations.

No - It's time to stand up to Wall Street.

Telecomms are publicly traded. Much of this "innovation" is being driven by Wall Street bullying the companies away from true innovation and towards more and more elaborate billing schemes. It also drives us towards a lean management (read as few employees as possible, move jobs to low education areas, etc etc). If you move jobs from NJ (high cost of living) to Oklahoma you cut salaries in half. Wall Street is happy with those changes.

Once you build the network - Wall Street says - Now how can you BILL it more effectively?

And it's not just AT and T.

You have another problem here - and it is the wireless phone subsidies. I truly believe if we dropped the phone subsidies we could drop our prices and still keep Wall Street happy. But the American consumer is going to have to change their habits. That means - dont buy a phone until the old one has truly died. Demand that your cell phone service billing works the same as your copper service did in 1997. IE - I will buy my phone from Radio Shack and pay month to month and that's the only way I will use the service.

It's impossible (in my world) to talk copper, IP, or wireless without discussing how all three have come together to change the landscape. So just ONE can't change - they all have to.

And I have the same thought today as I did in 1997 - backbone and technology are what they are. Everything else is just an elaborate billing scheme. Look up Global Crossing to see just how elaborate the billing schemes can get - even at the B2B level.