Email hosting (was: ATTBI/Comcast rant)

[Travis Roy]

>   An associate of mine had their electric meter, an old 
> mechanical model, seize up.  The power company saw their 
> usage as zero for several months, resulting in some very low 
> power bills.  Of course, the power company eventually 
> realized what was going on, replaced the meter, and now they 
> have to pay for their electricity again.  They didn't go to 
> the power company and say, "Hey, you were giving it away for 
> a couple months, why do I have to pay for it again?"
> 
>   The same principle applies here.

Not even close.. AT&T/Verizon have whole market reaseach divisions..
They know EXACTLY how much it will cost to deliver a service, how much
it will cost to implement it, how much to roll it out, and how much
people will charge. There's no "correction" here, it's big companies
screwing people over.. Of coure, they're willing to pay the extra fees
so they don't see a problem with it. 

That's a LOT different then getting constantly paid a rate for a service
then having the device that tells you how much you're using break.