In today's news is an item about CenturyTel planning to acquire Qwest. I am a customer of both of these companies, one in Nevada and one in Colorado. This deal will probably get approved because the landline telephone business is gradually giving way to cell phones and voice over the internet provided by cable companies and internet providers.

Industry experts claim that landlines will be totally gone by 2013. That date isn't sure - one admits he predicted this for 2010. It makes me wonder what rural areas like mine without cell phone signals will do for phone service. Many city people don't realize that there are vast areas of the country in the dead zone, and not all are out in the sticks where nobody lives, sometimes it is a matter of geography.

In my case, I live in a river canyon, with looming granite cliffs.




The thing about those old-fashioned landlines and those old phones is they work even when the electricity is out.

I'm pretty much okay with this potential merger because I like the customer service people at both Qwest and CenturyTel.

The Qwest people are located in Salt Lake City, and I picture rosy-cheeked obliging Mormons eager to assist me in an effective manner. Actually, less than 50% of the residents of Salt Lake City are Mormon, so this is just an arrogant assumption on my part. Anyhow, they are pretty good to talk to. Previously, I was talking to Qwest people in Minnesota, and they were also good.

The CenturyTel people are located in Lousiana, so they have those gentle accents, and Southern manners. I have tremendous respect for them because when I called tech support for assistance with my DSL modem, those women patiently stayed on the phone with me, stepping me through every possible alternative, including deciding the cord from the wall to the modem is no good. They could see noise on my line from their end, so they knew when I'd solved the problem.

Technology is great, and I know some solutions to the rural telephone problem will come along, but I hope there is some recognition that people living in rural areas aren't usually in the place financially where they can afford to pay a lot for this basic service.