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By Steve Ragan Jun 20, 2007, 16:08 GMT
AT&T offers $10 DSL, but tells no one about it
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Older Talkback
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'Offering speeds of 768kbpd up and 128kbps down, the allusive plan matches one that AT&T does display online and sells it for $19.00 per month.'
I assume you have these speeds backwards? Also, I believe you mean 'elusive', not 'allusive'.
Otherwise, super-interesting article. I absolutely can't wait for naked DSL. With cheap cell plans, the only reason I've had local phone service in the last two years has been to support DSL.
The DSL plan would be ELUSIVE rather than ALLUSIVE. ELUSIVE things are hard to find; ALLUSIVE things allude to, hint at, intimate something else. Spell-check is not intelligent.
'allusive'
It's 'elusive'.
Where is the service and how do I get it?
How do you subscribe to this service? Are there any links that you can tell the AT&T customer service rep when calling to enroll? Probably service reps have not been told, therefore will have a hard time enrolling new service.
I think just calling the order department should do it. I'm sure they are aware; ATT is just not doing much advertising. The service is available wherever ATT has service. If you don't know who serves your area, I suggest that you find out, or go to ATT.com and click on 'home phone' and then put your area code/prefix or zip code in there and it will let you know if that area is served.
kp
I have had the AT&T DSL service for 2 years. I called to get my service switched over to the $10 service and was told it only applied to new customers, which sounds like a lie to me.
I am on the phone now to AT&T, and am being told that it is only for new service sign-ups.
I do NOT accept that ..and if this is the case, and this is a way round by AT&T to not accept a price change for existing customers, I will cancel my service with this company!
So which are the 22 states? Could you add a list, or a pointer to a list?
Funny,
My local telephone service is with the new AT&T but they don't offer any DSL service here.
I was able to sign up on AT&T's web site. The article was right. You have to do a bit of digging around. However, I could not find the links they described. I did not have DSL before, so I had no problems qualifying.
Finally, for one penny more, I can now jump from dial-up to DSL. :-)
ok, where is that link you found? i've been digging and digging and can't find it!
You can all sign up at www.adminwireless.com
The link for the info on the $10 offer is at bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/inetsrvcs_agreement_plans_pop.html It is good in the 22 states that were served by BellSouth. After 12 months the price goes to the regular DSL lite rate (currently $24.95/mo.). This represents a savings of 179.40 over the 12 months ($14.95 times 12). If you terminate prior to 12 months a $50 penalty plus the $75 price of the modem applies. It appears to me that if you move out of their service area, the penalties still apply.
The other offer for the 22 BellSouth states is $19.95 until the settlement agreement expires. I've read elsewhere that is 30 months. I don\'t know if that is 30 months from the initial offering or 30 months from the time you start the service. The web site states this offer expires July 31, 2007. This represents a $148.50 savings at a rate of 4.95 savings for the 30 months. The only penalty is the $75 price of the modem for months 1-6 or $37.50 for months 7-12.
Both offers include a 'rebate' for the $75 refurbished modem. You have to wait 4 weeks before you can go online to apply for the rebate. If you remember to go online after the 4 weeks, then you eventually receive a credit applied to your account for the modem (within two billing cycles). They don't say if the credit applies to your internet service only or whether you can use it to pay your phone bill, also. But you may eventually get your 'rebate' by using this credit.
speakeasy has been offering 'naked' DSL for years now.
and with 6Mbit speeds, what's not to love? well, the price.
Everything else is great though. best support in the industry, no blocking of anything at any time. static IP addresses.
'Naked DSL': how to find and get the best price
By Michael Sorkin
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Jan. 18 2008
Here's something you should know when you order DSL service from AT&T: The
company sells the same speed Internet service at $10, $15 and $20 per month.
— The $14.99 service is called Basic DSL and is the easiest to get. Anyone with
an AT&T landline phone can order it by phone or online.
— The $10 DSL service can be ordered only online, and hundreds of consumers
have had trouble signing up for this, the company's cheapest-ever DSL. AT&T
says it won't sell it to anyone who is already an AT&T Internet customer.
— The newest Internet service is called DSL Direct Basic and costs $19.95. It
can be ordered only through an AT&T call center, but some sales reps say they
have never heard of it.
There are four DSL Direct plans; the $19.95 version is the cheapest and
slowest. The Direct plans are the only ones AT&T will sell consumers without
AT&T landlines.
This type of service is known as 'naked DSL.'
Each DSL Direct plan costs at least $4 more per month than the same plan for
customers who have AT&T landline phones.
DSL users don't need a phone; Internet service works fine without one.
AT&T is free to charge the higher prices because Internet rates are unregulated.
As for the $10, $15 and $20 Internet plans described above, all are rated at
the same speed: up to 768 Kbps downstream. That's too slow for downloading
movies but may be fine for e-mailing or Internet surfing.
Why charge three prices for the same speed?
AT&T spokesman Andy Shaw says customers have different needs. It's not unusual,
he says, for companies to offer different customers different prices.
AT&T offered $10 DSL reluctantly. The company already was charging higher
prices for Internet service and had no incentive to offer it so cheaply.
As for naked DSL, AT&T wants to sell you as many services as possible:
landline, Internet, cell phone and video. That's called bundling. Naked lets
consumers avoid bundling by choosing only what they want.
But about a year ago, the Federal Communications Commission required AT&T to
offer the lower-cost services in exchange for approving its purchase of
BellSouth.
AT&T began quietly offering $10 DSL about midyear on its website. AT&T said it
would not provide a phone number or e-mail address for anyone needing help.
By the end of the year, the company also began offering naked DSL. It is
quickly gaining popularity with the growing number of computer users who have
traded landlines for cells.
The FCC is requiring AT&T to offer a naked DSL plan for less than $20. An AT&T
spokesman said last month that consumers shouldn't sign up for the $19.95
service online or by calling. He told them to go to company stores.
That advice turned out to be wrong, and Savvy received more than a dozen
complaints.
Mindy Lynn Thomason, a financial analyst from St. Charles, hurried to an AT&T
store, where 'they told me I could only sign up by calling.'
She called — and reached a sales rep who said he couldn't help her.
This week, AT&T's Shaw offered different advice: He said to sign up for the
$19.95 Direct Basic only through a company call center.
That $19.95 plan is AT&T's cheapest naked DSL service — and the only one for
which the company requires a 12-month contract. The other plans are
month-to-month.
AT&T's site says to call 1-800-288-2020 to sign up for its more expensive DSL
Direct plans ($23.99 to $38.99.) We reached a sales rep who said he knew
nothing about any such plans and transferred us to 1-800-264-0002.
As first reported by hearusnow.org on the Consumers Union website, AT&T is
asking callers seeking naked DSL to provide their AT&T landline phone number.
We were asked three times.
But consumers who want naked DSL won't have a landline — and don't want one.
That's why they want naked.
'They want to sell you a phone line,' Thomason said after her experience.
She says after nearly a day, she finally connected with a sales rep who signed
her up for AT&T's $28.99 Direct Pro DSL plan. Service started this week, and
she's delighted.
But she chides the company for making it so hard: 'They do a good job of hiding
it.'
We called AT&T's Shaw, who responded:
'I apologize. We want everyone who calls in to be a customer. The vast majority
of these orders work. Sometimes we make a mistake, and we try to fix it.'
msorkin@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8347
It’s a real chore to find the unbundled DSL price that’s advertised, but here is the direct link.
attsignup.com/att_dsl_for_$10.htm
The real problem is that no one outside the city limits can even get DSL.
The FCC needs to force phone companies to serve ALL customers with DSL.
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