Then eventually a player comes in that disrupts the model. What free long distance on weekends and evenings. How is that even possible.
Then one day competition takes over, et I mean logic ;) and suddenly the phone prices make sense. Long distance calls are something of the past.
I believe ISP are going through the same thing. However since they can't easily start charging by the call what they are trying to do is charge not only the person who is paying to have a phone line but also the caller. Except that now the caller has to pay for their own phone line and a fee to connect to the end line, which is already being paid for by the end customer. Aka the last mile is double dipping in fees cause they can because there is no competition. Just like the long distance calls from before. Amazing how quickly the phone companies went from recovering costs to can make profits from no fee long distance calling when competition finally came...