Putting them together yields the best of both worlds. The RBOCs gain the reach they need. And as for the DLECs, getting acquired isn't such a bad idea. They've focused on selling wholesale access, which has already become a commodity, and have fallen behind on delivering value-added services, which is where much of the real profits lie. Long-term implications could be positive for network managers, as these moves should improve competition in the local and, ultimately, long distance markets.
Mergers mean customer service slowdowns, at least in the short term.
Those speeds are a far cry from what's currently available. Metricom's speeds are possible because of its micro-cell technology, where small antennae are fixed onto the lampposts around a metropolitan area. Users bent on experiencing the untethered Web may want to tread carefully. Only then will the true system performance be known. What's more, roaming may be an issue, with only 12 metropolitan markets across the country available by the end of 2000.