> Like long distance used to be, you don't get a choice in the matter.  If you've already got an ISP, tough.  You get to pay for Qwest.net
> whether you want it or not.

This is not ture.  If you have an ISP that supports DSL you can have them
be your ISP and you can cancel the USWorst.net service.  At least on the
plans I have dealt with we did that.  We used primenet, who is now getting
out of the DSL business.

> Just for fun, I checked with a few other DSL providers. I was told by each one of them that it would take 3-4 weeks to turn on my DSL
> connection, IF they could provide it, and that nothing could be done until I disconnected my existing Qwest DSL account.

Yes.  The evilness is two fold.

A. QWest does not make it clear that you can use other ISPs and once you
start thier ISP its a bear to switch w/o losing service.

B. They put the DSL providers out of business.  By either giving them such
cruddy terms its not worth thier time, or by making it next to impossible
to switch.

> So I wonder how long consumers are going to have to put up with this crap?  It's like, what if you could only call friends who have the
> same telephone service provider you've got, even though all the signals get routed through the same local telco?  Why is it that the DSL
> provider MUST BE your ISP?  And, why is it that even if you're going through the local telco's lines, other DSL providers have to treat
> it as if it's a separate wiring job?

It will remain this way until people get upset.  Most people just think
that its this way and thats life.  So they cope.  Windows is an example of
this.  I mean do you really think people like the blue screen of death?

Perception is everything, they perceive this as normal. :( 

Broadband is really just in a bad state of affairs. You have

DSL - Single provider (QWorst)

SpeedChoice - whopping 32k upstream and frequent outage with a helpdesk
that has 4 - 6 on hold times

Cox@Home - similar crappy upstream choking and heavy down times, if you
are in an area with many users forget about it your downstream will blow
too

T1's - yeah right, if you are independently wealthy 

I suppose some day they will make it so powerlines can do broadband then
you get another great company like SRP or APS to choose from. ;)

Derek