It seems to me that phone line costs are turning into a floor price for Internet access, when they shouldn't really be. The main asset telephone companies have, right now, is in RIGHTS OF WAY. Put an ISP in a business park that allows you to run your own dedicated copper pairs, and you've bypassed $25/month/line business phone line charges.
At some point, individual urban and suburban blocks could easily be "guerilla re-wired" for ISP access without serious trenching, etc. The phoneco would still be involved, but in a far lower-profit mode, as the supplier of a single T1 to a multi-block area.
For the "last mile" to the ISP user, wireless could be a better bet. Have antenna, will surf. (Not speaking for Qualcomm, etc.) Peter Monta pmonta@qualcomm.com Qualcomm, Inc./Globalstar