It's outdated in the sense that the original reason for the high fees was to make it economically viable to provide service to people in rural areas. But the original sunk costs of wiring every home and business have long been paid off, and the digital-ization of the phone network has drastically reduced the ongoing costs of providing service to those folks. So it's outdated.

On the other hand, there are plenty of local CLECs in rural areas that make money from these fees, and they continue to lobby hard to keep the tarriffs and fees as they are.

So it's both, really.