But at 75-80% of cost? I don't mind the shared access issue. It's that they can, and do, run commercials that gloat that they don't have to pay their phone bill to us or that they can give the same service to the consumer cheaper is just too much.
And about sharing cable lines. That's still not that great of an excuse. Most phone resellers resell in name only. They could easily do the same for cable. All they'd do is send their check to a different company and they then send Cox, charter, etc a check for 80% the cost. And what of cable modems? Am I able to resell cable modem access at 80% of cost to residential customers as well as providing phone service over coax to business consumers? As it is most cable companies are dumping coax trunks for fiber allowing them more bandwidth.
The phone company should charge a rate that will allow it to make a profit - but it must be the same rate that it charges it's own retail unit. If the phone company is discounting the rate to it's own internet division, it must offer the same rate to the competitors.