And the battle will likely intensify as Time Warner's proposed merger with AOL gets closer scrutiny in the coming weeks. Those on Capitol Hill are really worked up by the whole thing and there have already been some pretty decent quotes to come out of this. As long as you have this consolidation and corporate giants with more and power, you're going to have these battles. By the end of this year there will be 900,000 D.S.L. subscribers in the United States and more than double that number by the end of 2001, said Fritz McCormick, an analyst at the Yankee Group. It can be a struggle for many customers to just get DSL installed, for others, problems may begin after it is.
Many subscribers complain of service outages and poor customer care.
Meanwhile, companies are struggling to provide better service and keep up with exploding demand.