Note I didn't say "screwed UP on the local loop", it was that Qwest was
"screwed ON the local loop". Dropping thousands of miles of fiber is a
drop in the bucket compared with the cost (both regulatory and
manpower-wise) of running a splinter of fiber to millions of customers.
As for ATT having jumped the gun, everyone I've spoken with around NYC is
ITCHING for another local telecom provider. Seems to me if ATT made an
offer, combining local service with cable/cablemodem/wireless/paging plans,
they'd have tons of people jumping for joy here. In the Land Of Bell
Atlantic (sort of like the Land Before Time), ADSL exists at a lowly 256k
downstream/90k upstream only, which protects BA's T1 business. Oh, and
it's more expensive than two ISDN BRI lines to boot.
-s