Are they ready for the lawsuits? And not just from upset customers (”Whaadaya mean I can’t conect to itunes?”). If the telcos play with traffic shaping, lawyers will argue that they’re responsible for every packet that they carry, with interesting consequences re: copyright violations, defamation, and the like. (Why bother with some teenage downloader or blogger when I can make much more $ by suing Bell South?)

And I hope they have an explanation ready when their customers encounter messages like: “Don’t like the way this page loads? That’s because Bell South is screwing up your connection. Get a Real ISP, like XYZ.”

And speaking of competition, I’d just love to be XYZ’s ad agency!

Finally, are they ready to have the regulators step in and define quality of service standards for “internet service?” (Limited latentcy, guaranteed connectivity, and fixed IPs for all!) Internet has been exempted from most regulation by calling it “information service,” but if the telcos are going to start censoring the information, then it needs common carrier status.