Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!bu.edu!telecom-request From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: "Independent" Coin Phones Message-ID: <74410@bu.edu.bu.edu> Date: 10 Feb 91 18:53:00 GMT Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 46 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 108, Message 1 of 8 On Feb 10 at 1:21, TELECOM Moderator writes: > And now the more you > shop around; the more you use the competition, the better telco and > 'genuine Bell' service looks. Some of us were saying 'I told you so' > several years ago. I'm beginning to feel vindicated. PAT] Yes, indeed, the more you shop around ... but is it not nice to be able to shop around? Do you honestly believe that 'genuine Bell' would be at the level it is today if it had no competition nipping at its heels? Do you think, for instance, that AT&T would even today be providing digital connections nationwide if it were not for Sprint and others? It is important also to remember that COCOTs are an aberation. They are a cancer on the body telecom. To say that the MFJ is solely responsible for COCOTs is akin to saying that modern medicine produced AIDS. COCOTs were created and continue to exist courtesy of the malignant neglect of our regulatory bodies various. COCOTs could be cleaned up overnight if the same enforcement enthusiasm was employed as is to ordinary street vendors. And it would happen for sure if the public would get off its complacent butt and demand through its legislature, regulatory agencies, and last but not least, its pocketbook the cleansing of this scourge. Please do not blame the marketplace and competition for something that exists with the cooperation of its victims. Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the reason that 'Bell' phones are making a return is that market forces are coming to bear? If COCOTs become unprofitable because an informed public stops using them, or insists that all calls be carried by a legitimate IEC, owner-operators will ultimately migrate to some other business. The void created will be filled with utility phones. I still believe the benefits of the MFJ far outweigh the liabilities. Whenever you substitute 'marketplace' for 'monopoly' there will be glitches and inequities in the short term. Just look at the Soviet Union and its stuggle with 'capitalism' for now. But give the marketplace forces a chance to kick in before issuing blanket condemnations for a system. An "I told you so" at this point is premature. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !