These are fun times in Houston. The free market economy would appear to be bringing some really cool stuff to us in November by way of AT&T.
The following is an email I just sent my dad on the subject. He is looking to change mobile service and consolidate his telecommunication bills. I told him to hold off just a little bit longer?
It might be wise to put off your mobile phone search just a little bit longer. It would appear that we are about to see market competition heat up, which will be very beneficial for consumers. The attached article is from the WSJ on 10/26. I sent it to Tommy last week who happens to be in the market for a new phone/service provider too. It discusses Sprint’s difficulties in growing their customer base. They are about to roll out a series of initiatives to retain old customers and grab a few new ones.
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As for your remaining telecommunication services, my advice is to stay uncommitted for now. As we discussed telecom’s trend toward convergence will be sweet. AT&T is preparing a big announcement down here in the city next month. I’m sure Sprint will not be far behind in Kingwood.
In these fun times keep in mind that we’ve come a long way. Granddad’s Southwestern Bell stories about the nature of fiber-optics back in the 60’s jumps to mind. At that time the light which fiber carried was very dangerous. When the Engineers introduced it to Granddad they told him that hey only has two chances to look into a fiber optic cable, “your left eye & your right eye”. Today, that little strand of cable can simultaneously carry 400 digital television signals, broadband internet, voice phone calls, and anything else we can compress into 1’s and 0’s.
The real breakthrough is that our telecom providers are now bringing fiber into our neighborhoods. When they do rest assured that our family will be the famed “Jones” with whom the rest of the block tries to keep pace!
Unfortunately, the slogan for today seems to be, “hurry up and wait”. November promises to be a fun month in Houston. I’ll let you know if see any developments on this topic in the coming weeks.
In conclusion, “Yeah, Capitalism!”
Here are a few pictures from my visit to my 
