Entrepreneur Magazine, August 2006

Who wins the battle between the bells and cable companies? You do.

Pennies are raining down from heaven onto phone customers this summer as the giant Baby Bells clash with the giant cable monopolies.

Mergers have left many fewer, but now much larger, Bells, and they have an absolute lock on America's traditional landlines. The trouble is that business is in decline, and they're having to buy their way into fixed-line's growth markets--broadband and VoIP. Cable companies not only dominate broadband, but also have the most IP phone subscribers. Three of the top five and five of the top 10 VoIP providers are cable companies, reports Alex Goldman, managing editor of ISP-Planet.