On 21-4-2009 17:52, Darren New wrote:
> scott wrote:
>> The ISP business is open and follows market demands, they will provide 
>> for whatever the customers want.
> 
> Not in the USA.  Aren't most telecom companies state-run in Europe? Am I 
> allowed to open a new telephone company in (say) Germany and dig up the 
> road and all, running new wires to houses in new developments?

The way that is handled here is that the monopolist company is split in 
one that does the hardware and one that uses that hardware. You can 
start a telephone or gas or electricity company and the company that 
does the hardware has to provide you with the same service for the same 
price as they do for their former monopoly part. In most cases the only 
thing that changes when you change provider is that the header of the 
invoice changes. And the price may differ, because that is the whole 
point. With electricity and perhaps also gas (I am not handling those 
invoices) you can even change from regular to green energy without any 
physical change at your house.
I hope that is more or less understandable ;)

Needless to say that quite often it does not work as expected.

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