Telco is short for "greedy bastards."

Remember when people talked of laying fiber-optics right to everyone's door? Cheap, high-speed access for everyone? Movies on demand? It was going to be an internet utopia.

Yeah, well, the Telcos are kinda hoping you don't. Why? Because they just pocketed the (wait for it) $200 BILLION in tax cuts the U.S. government gave them to build out the high-speed broadband system they promised.

Understandably, the Telcos are afraid you might ask for that $2,000 you—and every other American—paid to them for a service you never received. Sprint, Verizon, SBC, et al, promised speeds of 45Mbps (Hi-Def only requires 10Mbps, fyi), yet only delivered 1.5Mbps—on a good day. Meanwhile, the Koreans and Japanese already get 100Mbps, and they pay a lot less.

As a result of this blatant theft of our tax money, Korea and Japan are now the leaders in developing high-speed technologies, and worse, I can't afford that new $2000 plasma screen I've been eyeing.