Slashdot is pointing to a story about how the FCC has recently ruled that local phone companies are allowed to bundle DSL with other services. A dissenting commissioner asks this question:

In this decision, the Commission unwisely flashes the green light for broadband tying arrangements.
...
If it is [ok] to deny consumers DSL if they do not [have] analog voice service, what stops a carrier from denying broadband service to an end-user who has cut the cord and uses only a wireless phone? What prevents a carrier from refusing to provide DSL service to a savvy consumer who wants stand-alone broadband only for VoIP?

For once I agree with the overall FCC ruling. The answer to the dissenting commissioner's question is simple. What prevents the phone companies from doing this is a drop in sales! If people don't want DSL bundled with analog phone service, then they can purchase a cable modem, or they can purchase DSL through a 3rd party (like I do with Earthlink) and avoid the bundling. There are satellite broadband services becoming available and also metropolitan WiFi services too. If phone companies don't put together a competitive product, they will lose money... and that will ultimately drive them to choose a different marketing scheme. No regulation needed.

Market forces and influences act much faster than government regulation... and tend to fix problems a lot better too. Let's not forget that.