Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!laura
From: laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Doing only that which brings the most profit.
Message-ID: <4240@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 19-Aug-84 09:12:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.4240
Posted: Sun Aug 19 09:12:58 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Aug-84 09:12:58 EDT
References: <740@ubc-ean.CDN> <1050@dciem.UUCP>, <999@hcrvax.UUCP>, <8680@watmath.UUCP>, <4226@utzoo.UUCP>, <423Re: Doing only that which brSun, 19-Aug-84 09:12:58 EDT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 18

Something people seem not to know about is the existence of private phone
companies in Canada. Bell has managed to take over all the ones which I
knew about, but there may still be some. The one in Dunville, Ontario
charged more than Bell service, but it also gave you better
service. And it let you own your own phones when this was unheard of
within the Bell system.

Now the interesting thing is that these companies were able to connect to
each other and to Bell. It was in the interest of all parties to allow
phone calls to travel from one system to another -- because a phone
is valuable in that it gives you access to other people who have phones.
The phone is precisely the sort of utility that is not going to be cut
off because each person who is unreachable by phone diminishes the
phone's attraction as a provider of ``universal service'' (or whatever
they are calling it this week.)

Laura Creighton
utzoo!laura