When AT&T was AT&T they made money on the long distance portion of
your Bill. That was always the money end. They also make money on
Business users.
Our church pays twice as much as a residential customer because we
are a business. Yet we use it a lot less than a residential phone.
Plus the factor you mentioned city/rural made the big difference.
Stewart
At 11:45 AM 2/27/2009, you wrote:
I'd always go for the carrot [incentives] first before considering
the stick [regulations or punishment].
Grants and tax breaks can be offered to companies to create and
provide network broadband services within defined parameters within
a reasonably limited amount of time. The stick would only be used on
companies that take the incentives without producing desired
results. It would also be used for price gouging, and that also
needs to be defined considering the difference between cost and
charges for service, plus projected subscription base.
Whether individual households use this service or not isn't
important. The benefits to nonusers from businesses, schools and
communities being more connected, resourceful and efficient will
affect them positively even if they don't use broadband themselves.
BTW, if telcos never made money from residential service, how did
they pay my dividends for so many years, including 2008? They make
money from residential service in metropolitan areas, but not in
rural areas. Balancing those services might make a net zero profit.
Business services are profitable. We just cancelled my dad's WATS
line last week now that his business is shut down. It was only
$16/mo. My cousin had a residential WATS line in the 70s that cost
$500/mo, but she could call anywhere in the world and talk as long
as she wanted. More businesses are using more services, at better
rates, thus adding to the telco bottom line. I'd like to see figures
that indicate a loss for dial tone service in metro areas.
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Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
mailto:popoz...@earthlink.net
Prince of Peace www.princeofpeaceozark.org
Ozark, AL SL 82
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