U S West was dealt some bad cards with geography (a sparsely populated region), and from 1984-2000 it took a bad hand and made it worse. That's the reason why Qwest is the orphan Bell and is likely to remain so.
Yeah, probably, if they felt they could get past the regulators.
It was simply cultural warfare, red state vs. blue state. Time and service (U S West employees) resented youth and talent, and youth and talent had no respect for time and service.
It shows that except for Qwest everyone else has found a dance partner.