strake My irritation was directed not at what you said but the way that you said it. I take your word that you are polite to CC however, it seemed to me, the way in which you described them in this forum was anything but. We all have moments of 'ranting'.
A new entrant in the market will always be able to offer better levels of service than an established one. Consider the service levels that VS was lauded for when they launched in 1984? Nowadays, they often get slagged off but I reckon their service is as good as it was then, it's just that folks have got used to it. The new style carriers that you mention can specialise in service but, possibly, their service levels will be seen to have fallen in another ten years.
Talking of 1984, derekl, if I recall correctly - cellular radio telephony started in the UK in January 1985? Vodafone on 1st and Cellnet on 17th, but I might be one year out. Unfortunately, neither O2 nor Vodafone's websites talk about when they started.