http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050804/tc_usatoday/phonecompaniesdslmaybederegulatedThis means that your DSL provider will be your phone company, not earthlink or AOL or XO. It has some pretty big implications, with reduced competition possibly leading to higher prices, but then phone companies are hesitant to pour billions into DSL infrastructure to only have to turn around and lease said infrastructure at cut rate prices to it's competitors. It also whacks the USF from DSL, which is about 10%.
I personally don't have DSL service in my neighborhood, even though I'm in a pretty built up area. If something good comes out of this, it'll be that there is some more level competition between DSL and cable. This will also impact the financial viability of Verizon's fiber to the house rollout. They were doing that to avoid the very issue of regulation and having to lease access to competitors. Now, phone companies may be free to use new DSL technologies, like adsl2, bonded adsl2 and others to deliver more media to your house over the same old POTS line.
