[defnotashton2]

It's not a free market or anywhere near and implying such is dishonest. Coops would be everywhere if it wouldn't be for rediculous city, county, state and federal regulations. Not to mention the miles and miles of dark fiber all over the country held up in ownership litigation, not to mention the federal government created this problem in the first place by heavily subsidizing bell and continuing to do so.

The telco industry has always been a regulated monopolistic market and that is primarily caused and was created by regulation..

[maccam94]

One nitpick: AFAIK the issues at the city/county level come from service contracts that guarantee exclusivity in return for things like providing service to sparsely populated (unprofitable) areas and discounted rates for the poor/disabled/etc. You can argue that those deals shouldn't have been made, but then the local government would have been allocating public resources (running wires under streets, conduits, etc) in a way that excluded their disadvantaged constituents.

Anywho I am a proponent of Local Loop Unbundling. Limited conduit/pole space and complex webs of property easements make wired telecoms natural monopolies. Have the government own the conduits and fiber cables, and rent them to service providers instead.

[rectang]

> It's not a free market or anywhere near

Right, agreed.

> implying such is dishonest.

/me raises eyebrow.

Making utilities into something that consensus opinion would label a "free market" is incredibly difficult. Without regulation, you get monopolies. With regulation, you get monopolies.

Implying that a "free market" can solve the utility problem is (I won't say "dishonest" because I don't believe you're arguing in bad faith) facile.