Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!nucsrl!telecom-request From: rhc@agate.berkeley.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Why Telco Should be Permitted to Maintain Monopoly Message-ID: Date: 11 Mar 91 00:09:23 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 23 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 196, Message 10 of 12 How about fault tolerance? With all facilities under one manangment, reconfiguration to compensate for malfunction, disaster, or traffic overload could be swifter/easier. It's just a precautionary measure; It has nothing to do with democracy. [Moderator's Note: I generally agree with you; but I think where a lot of the readers here would disagree is because of Telco's attitudes in the past. They would probably say *if* telco was run in a fair and impartial way; and *if* the utility at all times dedicated itself only to the good of its customers; and *if* Telco was a bit quicker to make new innovations available to all customers; and *if* telco was more responsive to customer concerns, etc. -- then the monopoly status would probably be okay. But because there have been so many instances where Telco has offended a large number of customers in one way or another, people would now rather see competition, even if competition at times causes some inconvenience. I'm not sure I agree. I'd rather see the monopoly continue with very tight reins kept on Telco. PAT]