I haven't had any major problems with ILECs (well, actually, I guess I did, since I received multiple bills from the ILEC after switching to the CLEC, but that pales in comparison to PRMan's experience). For me, the reason that I dislike U.S. telcos is that they're so stuck on old technology and charging high rates that they refuse to adopt new technologies that lower costs (frankly, I'm surprised that Verizon offers VoiceWing--that's not typical of an ILEC). The big thing going on now in carrier-land is switching from T1 circuits to metro Ethernet circuits--and the telcos are whining that "Ethernet isn't a high-margin service like T1s are" (in other words, they make a crapload of profit off of T1s but not nearly as much off of Ethernet (Ethernet is WAY cheaper to build/deploy/manage than ATM, for reasons I don't quite understand). But they're being forced to switch because of--gasp--competition and demand by customers.
Vonage wasn't perfect, but it was innovating in an area that the telcos refused to pursue (despite holding the patents for it...), thereby forcing prices down and forcing the telcos to enter the VoIP market.
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I haven't had any major problems with ILECs (well, actually, I guess I did, since I received multiple bills from the ILEC after switching to the CLEC, but that pales in comparison to PRMan's experience). For me, the reason that I dislike U.S. telcos is that they're so stuck on old technology and charging high rates that they refuse to adopt new technologies that lower costs (frankly, I'm surprised that Verizon offers VoiceWing--that's not typical of an ILEC). The big thing going on now in carrier-land is switching from T1 circuits to metro Ethernet circuits--and the telcos are whining that "Ethernet isn't a high-margin service like T1s are" (in other words, they make a crapload of profit off of T1s but not nearly as much off of Ethernet (Ethernet is WAY cheaper to build/deploy/manage than ATM, for reasons I don't quite understand). But they're being forced to switch because of--gasp--competition and demand by customers. Vonage wasn't perfect, but it was innovating in an area that the telcos refused to pursue (despite holding the patents for it...), thereby forcing prices down and forcing the telcos to enter the VoIP market.