The industry could enable a call to a given number ring, say, both your home and cell at the same time. Yet a sizeable number of folk believe that is what LNP is. So why not?  Western Wireless made blanket requests for LNP from all carriers in Utah. After discussion, it appears they are indeed willing to pay for their access to each separate network of the various Local Exchange Carriers, with a phase-in over the next two years as the Utah LEC's get ready.  Frontier indicated its costs to modify Utah exchanges to enable LNP would be as high as forty cents per customer per month, over a five-year period.  GRAFT AND CORRUPTION? There has been mumbling about the costs to implement LNP when cops won't allocate 911 funds to enable E-911 to rural Utah customers. My company has the ability to provide all the E-911 law enforcement could ever hope to have. But the local PSAPs in the 11 counties we serve don't want to order the E-911 trunks. They'd rather have nicer cop cars and radios paid for by E-911 money we collect and remit each month.  To resolve the goofy allocation of money, legislators mandated 911 surcharges will increase and go into a state pool. The managers will decide who gets the dough. One seat on the board will be from we Utah LEC's. Maybe real E-911 will follow.   However, some hands will now want the money to extend E-911 location service to wireless. Some will say raising the customer surcharge should pay for additional PSAP equipment to locate cell callers. Then again, I can't help but wonder about customer levies for wireless location when they don't have E-911.  ENHANCED WHERE? Don't get me off on street addresses where density in our areas is on the order of .5 subs per mile of dirt road. Real medical emergencies are (weather permitting) by helicopter.  And, they want latitude and longitude coordinates that nail the “go to” site exactly.  Every one of our subs is platted with geographic coordinates. And modern map programs accept such coordinates and place an “x” on a map saying “right  here.” Should this stuff be available for public safety? Use E-911 money for it too? VONAGE Daughter in Florida reports she completed the family's move to a new house. They dropped their Vonage service and went with AT&T ‘cause they got a package which included their two cell phones. Plus, Vonage's  offered poor customer relations and non- dependable service. Yet, AT&T customer relations is much the same as I described where an English-speaking alien talks to callers. Ravonne tells me they sort of look forward to each month's bill to see if they get a jackpot from credits trying to fix prior overbilling.  INTERNATIONAL CELL PHONE. When Ravonne signed up with AT&T, they told her it didn't cost anymore to sign up for international service unless you used it.  GSM lives!  To sign up,  got more aliens saying they had to ask some questions related to security for the worldwide service. She was  asked what was her predominate last name.  Huh?  She said for the past 15 years - Ross. Before that?  (Brothers). The alien English voice then told her addresses where she had phones in Boston and other weird history. She had totally forgotten and could not verify that old stuff. For an international cell phone?  Is homeland security going overboard here and who is earning for the dip in that database?  Consider who has been mining those records for the past two years.  INTERNET BENEFIT One of the benefits of dealing with the big dogs such as UUNet/MCI  (and similar companies) to get your internet backbone is the availability of having access to Intrusion Detection Systems and Spam Control which flows through to your customers. Ask for it by name.  © Beehive Telephone Co.