Stuff like this can have profound (and unhealthy!) effects on the shape of a market.
Joho the Blog: Laminated lock in and lock out. Verizon (according to the AP) has been removing the copper lines from the houses to which it is attaching fiber lines. This means you will have difficulty going back from FIOS, the Verizon fiber product. Also, Verizon is not required to provide other phone companies with access to its fiber lines, the way they are for copper lines. Verizon thus at once accomplishes a laminated lock in and lock out.