Who needs 'POTS-plus' services? : A comparison of residential user needs along the rural-urban continuum

US policy makers are deliberating about upgrading the public switched telecommunications network (PSTN) with little or no empirical evidence concerning residential users' use of 'POTS-plus' services. The purpose of this study is to address this gap. Two crucial assumptions extant in the policy discourse serve as our research foci: (i) Urban and rural residential users alike will desire the same POTS-plus products and services; (ii) Residential users will be interested primarily in those products and services supplied or delivered by the LECs over the upgraded PSTN. Using Dervin's actor-centred, sense-making methodology, we generate quantitative and qualitative results that illuminate the complexity of the telecommunications needs of urban and rural users. We find little evidence to support the claim that the USA is being polarized in terms of telecommunications 'haves' (urban) and 'have not' (rural). Relatedly, our findings suggest there is little interest among residential users for POTS-plus services, particularly those delivered by the LECs over the PSTN.