the telecom biz

I had never heard the term "disruptive technology" until reading the Economist article, but it certainly made sense in the given context. I couldn't help but contrast how VOiP is transforming phone service to the telecom industry environment 20+ years ago, when I worked for a local telecommunications company, Teltone (then based in Kirkland, now in Bothell). I remember a great deal of talk about UMS (Universal Measured Service), where phone companies were expecting to generate revenue by charging for local calls on a usage basis just like long distance, instead of charging a flat fee. Instead the nearly the opposite has happened--long distance is nearly free, and most young people I know dispense with land lines entirely. When we dropped off our second kid to college at Gonzaga this summer, it seemed almost archaic that dorm rooms had land line phones that students could rent.
The article also clarified for me why, when our family went in for our "forced" cell phone upgrade after two years this summer, Verizon pushed so hard for us to add services such as texting and internet access. They need the revenue stream generated by the value-adds.