Fire Your Phone Company. Today.

If you live in Dallas, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle, you're in luck. Unlike the rest of us, you have the effortless opportunity to fire your phone company today. More cities are coming soon.

For the computers in your house:

• 8Mbps downstream DSL Service (i think the upstream is 1Mbps)
• comprehensive computer protection suite (virus, spyware, spam, phishers, popups, firewall, etc.) (earthlink protection control center)
• and the works: 8 virtual accounts, each with their own e-mail, SIP address/free online calling, web space, start page, etc.

For the humans who like to chat in your house:

• Unlimited Local and Long Distance Calling
• And the works: Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3-Way Calling, Online Account Management, Call Blocking, etc.

All you need is a phone jack and $70/month, to cover all of your home hyper-speed Internet connectivity, computer security, and communications needs.

The meat: It's a partnership between Covad, and EarthLink. This service is also known as "LPV" or Line-Powered Voice. It leverages Covad's newly-rolled-out "ADSL2" network. Essentially, EarthLink and Covad become your phone service provider, when the "switch" is made.

Just keep your phones plugged-in their normal phone sockets, no nerdy setup, nothing. Then pick-up your phone, as you normally do, hear the same dial-tone as always, and dial-away. No additional hardware is required for your phones. You'll just get a special superfast broadband modem for your in-house computer network.

Blam, you're done.

Phone companies have enjoyed sweet local monopolies for far too long. This is about to change. Big time. Covad is wheeling and dealing with many local DSL providers. Expect ferocious competition in this field.

See also Net Neutrality and the Sorry State of U.S. Broadband