SORRY, WRONG NUMBERS

Langford says one fact that is getting lost in the costly litigation process is that around 10,000 people along the Front Range rely on the flat-rate service. Mountain Solutions is the largest of the companies to offer the service, with just under 6,000 customers throughout Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Colorado Springs and portions of Summit, Clear Creek, Grand, Park and Eagle counties.

This week the PUC is scheduled to decide whether Mountain Solutions will have to pay the higher tariff. Should the commissioners decide that US West must charge her company as an inter-exchange carrier, Langford says, she'll take the issue to district court.

"The reality of the situation is that US West can shut us down," she says. "And they would like nothing better than for that to happen.