that said, can I get FIOS w/o any other
Verizon crap? I just want the fiber transport
to an exchange... want my own ISP/peering, not
theirs. They wont sell it.
Yup. They got what they wanted. They got concessions to build Clinton's
(stupidly named) Information Superhighway, including what some believe to
be two HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS in incentives, which the telcos happily
took and gave us ... darn near nothing ... in return. Certainly not what
was promised.
http://www.newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm
Obviously this has its own axe to grind, but anyone who doesn't understand
the fundamental truth, that the telcos greedily accepted this, took the
money, and then ended up complaining and lobbying until they were allowed
to provide much less, virtually noncompetitively, on terms extremely
favorable to their own interests, well, if you don't get that, you're
blind.
The problem with the free market is that it doesn't work in the public's
best interest, but rather in the best interest of the companies involved.
This is both a blessing and a curse. Had things developed in the way that
was intended, there would have been a virtual decimation of the existing
communications companies, and the Internet might have suffered a good bit
as well. I think we'd have gotten over it, though, and certainly we'd be
much better connected now.
The challenges would be very interesting. Imagine being faced with the
prospect of having customers wanting to use 45 megabits of bidirectional
capacity. You'd have to find some interesting new technologies. Like
the InterneTiVo I was talking about a while back. 
... JG