[Boatanchors] Short Wave Broadcast Folks:

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J. Forster" <jfor at quikus.com>
To: <Jbrannig at verizon.net>
Cc: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Short Wave Broadcast Folks:


> It's a big country. In many areas a phone is the lifeline.
>
> The phone suits don't seem to understand that not 
> everybody lives in a
> condo in Manhattan. Furthermore, from Verizon's own 
> coverage maps, there
> are vast areas w/ no cell service.
>
> And their penny-pinching can easily kill people.
>
> YMMV,
>
> -John

     In some book on AT&T history, and I am sorry that I am 
not sure which, it was pointed out that an investment in 
AT&T at any time from its founding until the break-up would 
have lost money in comparison to the average of industrial 
stocks on the market.  The reason is that the telephone 
industry is very capital intensive, that is, there is a 
constant need for money to maintain, upgrade, and expand the 
system.  Further, the telephone industry has been regulated 
as a public utility almost since its beginning. As a result 
it has never been able to adjust cost and profit to the 
market without a long fight. While in many areas the public 
utilities commissions are more or less under the thumb of 
major utilities they still affect the way a regulated 
company works.  At the time of the break-up it was found 
that AT&T was indulging in internal accounting practices 
that were intended to shift cost to the smaller Bell 
companies to improve their tax structure, but a result is 
that they could not afford to maintain their systems 
properly so subscribers in those areas suffered from 
unreliable service or sometimes no service.  I am certainly 
not against regulation but think it is some times done 
badly. The idea is to protect the public from gouging but 
the regulation of the old AT&T resulted in the opposite. The 
"Voice with a Smile" became the voice with a snarl.  I think 
things are no better now. I will also say that in general 
"features" do not replace reliability but are much easier to 
sell.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com