Add this to your reasons to be disgusted by the big telecom companies.
After a century of offering basic landline phone service to the entire country — a service they maintained in order to convince the FCC to let them keep their Ma Bell-era monopoly — AT&T (as well as Verizon) are lobbying state governments to let them discontinue servicing areas that they decide they don't want to bother with (read: can't afford to pay for their overpriced, boutique "bundle" services).
Worse, the laws have already been changed in 4 states: Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, & Texas — with many other states under heavy lobbying pressure to fall in line as well.
This policy will be a crony capitalist disaster, & not just for the countless people who depend on landline service as their "last resort". Let's see; Grandma needs your help fast? Rural area? Mountains block your cell reception? Can't afford a Cadillac service, or Cadillac services refuse to touch your area? Too bad, so sad. Hope she sent a carrier pigeon in time.
Anyway, with other crap coming up hard & fast as well, I'm sure this will be only the 1st of several Big Telecom-related rants for this week...
11:19 AM PT: 1st time on the rec list! I'm glad I got this conversation going, & I hope lots of people complain to their state legislatures about this.
Also, added "Ohio" to the tags. As one commenter noted, the telecom lobbying is particularly heavy there too.