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[josmon at rigozsaurus.com (John Osmon)]

> My point was that consumers voted out thousands of independents by
> taking service from incumbents instead of independents. Thousands have
> closed up shop. Where independents are available, it's still tough
> getting customers if the incumbents have a service that mostly works
> (over say 5 to 10 megs), even if the independent offers service
> comparable to the incumbent's advertisements. 

In my neck of the woods, most independents only sold layer 3 services.
and depended upon others for layer 2 services.  The independents had
a booming business with those conditions and consumers had an array of
choices for ISPs.

Then, the layer 2 operators started offering combined layer 2/3 services
at a price point below the layer 2 only price needed to get to the
independents.  Unsurprisingly, the consumers flocked to the cheaper
services.

I've always felt if a company used a public right of way to reach a
consumer, they should be prohibited from being a layer 3 provider.
Or, at a minimum, they need to sell layer 2 services to themselves at
the same price they charge others.  I've known lots of people that would
be happy to compete with the big boys under those circumstances.