There have been several reports of AT&T’s “naked DSL” offering (i.e. DSL without the analog phone line), which apparently was condition to merge with BellSouth.

Anyone who understands IP technology knows where this ends:   we’ll just have fat IP pipes (DSL, fiber, cable modem — doesn’t matter).  The latency will be low enough for real-time services, and the bandwidth will be high enough for video streaming.

We’re almost there.

I was setting up our vacation home last year:   we’ve got fast broadband, who needs “digital cable”, a “set top box”, a “radio”, or an “analog phone line”?  We can already download almost all of the audio and video we want to see.

(I did have to give in on the phone; the freeze-alarm out-dial needs to work when the power’s out.)