The business about replacing copper with optical fibre and who's going to pay for it is a total red herring. Currently, it's much cheaper for the RBOCs to lay fiber than copper. Over the whole nation, about 5% of the wiring is replaced annually. For at least the last two years, that replacement has been 100% fiber and (IMNVHO) that trend will continue. In ~20(*) years the whole country will be fiber without anyone doing anything out of the ordinary. (*) It's a little more than 20 years because there is some overlap in the areas that get replaces; I.e. it's not a new 5% each year, but the overlap is well under 1%. --Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker, Author, and Cyberspace Bard Media Lab - Advanced Human Interface Group wex@media.mit.edu Voice: 617-258-9168, Pager: 617-945-1842 PUBLIC KEY available by request Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational.