So it would seem that Verizon is buying out Alltell to the tune of $28 billion.  I have little doubt that this sill result in synergies that will help bring better services and lower prices to customers.  So let's see, this will leave us with AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.    I'm pretty sure that all other carriers are some subsidiary of those four, or are renting network time from one of them (Virgin Mobile, etc). 

Now, one of the grand theories that the FCC has been operating under of late is that there's plenty of competition and, therefore, there's no need to do much in terms of regulation.  Hogwash.  In the current market, AT&T and Verizon are dominant, and it's very likely that, before long, T-Mobile and Sprint will go away too and we'll have only two carriers for celluar service.  So if I wanted data service to my home I'd end up with a choice between:

1. AT&T
2. Verizon - would necessarily be wireless
   
3. Comcast

That's it.  That's the big competitive marketplace.  Now, today, to be fair, I do get service from Speakeasy, but that data is all routed over AT&T's local loop and I pay a premium for it.  Companies like Speakeasy have slowly been giving up on consumer DSL service because of the thin margins and the constant problems with local loop providers interfering with their service.  Without the FCC bringing down the hammer, and forcing local loop providers to open up their lines, that will only get worse.

Does anybody here honestly expect prices to remain low and services to continue improving when there's only three companies competing for my dollar?  Will customer service be a priority?  I REALLY doubt it.