[techtalk] Metered calls (was: webads)

[Christian MacAuley]

> > (It's similar in Germany:) It's not that you have much of a choice when
> > you're more or less forced to use what the monopoly gives to you. For
> > instance the German Telekom (former state monopoly gone public) owns the
> > last mile to the customer (and many of the smaller telcos have to lease
> > their lines even for long distances). They charge the other telcos a) a
> > fixed rate because they provide the wire and b) by the minute/second if
> > they use those lines (e.g. even if I switched to another telco
> completely,
> > Telekom would get it's share metered). Not much of an incentive for the
> > other telcos to give me unmetered access or a flat rate, is it?

I was happy to see that internet service will be available from
non-telephone companies in Germany.  They'll be ISPs over the power grid
there.  Electricity has never been unmetered though, i wonder how
competitive it will be.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,42874,00.html

~Christian

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Christian MacAuley
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