the new at&t is different (note my lower caset at&t-it's their new branding).... yes. it is actually sbc expanded as some of the users mentioned. one thing they sbc must make sure is that they do not keep legacy AT&T people around. they are the more bureaucratic than government employees traditional phone service is a dying business that noone wants except to milk the last few drops of this cash cow. however, it still has some life left in it... in telecom, there is always that quality of service requirement of 5-7 nines, 99.99999 uptime guarantee. at&t had even given up traditional phone line business and going for voip, until sbc bought them. agreed at&t+sbc+bellsouth will be have almost monopoly in traditional phone line business. however there will always be enough players in the today's market of wireless, voip, high speed broadband etc thoughts?