Telecom Collapse?

[mike-nanog at tiedyenetworks.com (mike)]

For my own $0.02 worth, I would like to point out the kind of 
engineering that was done during the days of Ma Bell - when it was THE 
phone company, and had the world in it's pocket - was quite spectacular 
and resulted in telecommunications systems that largely stood up and 
continued functioning despite the worst that could be thrown at it. But 
today, in our competitive (ahem) marketplace, the kinds of resources 
that made this level of engineering possible on such a wide scale, are 
no longer economically possible and is only infrequently done. Besides, 
most people readily accept failure. Except when it hurts them, that is, 
and then only after the fact is any kind of examination done and 
possibly steps taken to address the risk. But until then, people want 
cheap and that's the only selling point that matters. So your cable voip 
works until it doesn't, and nobody is responsible to you for it not 
working when you needed it to..... at least it was cheap....