AT&T DSL Pricing Games

[Scroll]

I just saw mom's phone bill and it seems that apparently without official notice (at least that I could find) her DSL is going up $5. She only has the basic service and it's been $15 the whole time she's had it and now it will be $20.

So I went to the package comparison page and it seems new subscribers who have not had its DSL for at least 12 months can NOW get it for just $10 a month.

This may be the first time I've ever seen a utility raise the monthly charge for an existing subscriber by the same amount they discount a new subscription based from the old rate.

Knowing mom it looks like she will be canceling the service as even the $15 a month was a strain on her budget. I was really pulling for free basic WiFi access in her community but alas we all know the struggles with those projects today.

I bring this up here because obviously you can't have IPTV without broadband and the additional cost of that access alone was an indication to me that IPTV may be beyond the means of many former SA DBS subscribers.

Keep in mind this is the cost for just the basic service, which is too slow for IPTV. To get speeds fast enough for IPTV she would need:

IP Address: 1 Dynamic
Downstream Speed: Up to 1.5 Mbps
Upstream Speed: Up to 384 Kbps

Order now for $25.00 per month.



As the DBS service was ending I remember many trying to defend the IPTV switch by saying how the country is becoming evermore broadband connected. But in these challenging economic times I see the means to afford that connection slipping farther and farther away from those on the lower income levels.

 

[kevinbct]

I just saw mom's phone bill and it seems that apparently without official notice (at least that I could find) her DSL is going up $5. She only has the basic service and it's been $15 the whole time she's had it and now it will be $20.

So I went to the package comparison page and it seems new subscribers who have not had its DSL for at least 12 months can NOW get it for just $10 a month.

This may be the first time I've ever seen a utility raise the monthly charge for an existing subscriber by the same amount they discount a new subscription based from the old rate.

Knowing mom it looks like she will be canceling the service as even the $15 a month was a strain on her budget. I was really pulling for free basic WiFi access in her community but alas we all know the struggles with those projects today.

I bring this up here because obviously you can't have IPTV without broadband and the additional cost of that access alone was an indication to me that IPTV may be beyond the means of many former SA DBS subscribers.

Keep in mind this is the cost for just the basic service, which is too slow for IPTV. To get speeds fast enough for IPTV she would need:

IP Address: 1 Dynamic
Downstream Speed: Up to 1.5 Mbps
Upstream Speed: Up to 384 Kbps

Order now for $25.00 per month.



As the DBS service was ending I remember many trying to defend the IPTV switch by saying how the country is becoming evermore broadband connected. But in these challenging economic times I see the means to afford that connection slipping farther and farther away from those on the lower income levels.

AT&T raised their DSL prices nationwide. It was announced in March. The 768 K tier went from $15 to $20. The 1.5 tier went from from $20 to $25 (as you stated), The 3.0 mbps went from $25 to $30 and the 6.0 mbps DSL elite stayed at $35 per month.

The $10 plan is available if you ask for it. Sometimes you have to twist some arms to get it, because it is supposed to be online only. 256 download / 128 k upload

 

[skitheberks]

I am not trying to hijack the post. I have cable for my internet but NOT for my television. My local cable company "allows" this. I pay $21.95 for the basic speed. Which looks to be about 1.6 for the downloads. I did the Skyangel IPTV speed test.

The $21.95 rate has been the same for about 2 years. I think the speed has increased as at the time it was promoted at 3x the speed of dial up. So I think it was 768 when I started. I have my own Motorola modem with built in wireless router (SBG900) that I bought from a big box retailer.

Cable companies do not advertise the broadband only, mine did not. It took some calls and research and I finally got it. Of course they were trying to force digital cable on me and used every selling the service tactic possible when I told them I have a BUD & SA and get the locals via OTA.

Why do I not have cable TV? $49 a month for two channels that I would watch or $79 for five if I go digital.

 

[Orvsat]

I have the $10/month AT&T plan. It was created as part of the BellSouth/SBC/AT&T merger. It seems this was a condition for the Feds allowing the deal to go through. Although the low cost plan is too slow for IPTV I will probably cancel when the $10 rate expires and is moved to $19.95.

My guess is that many who become DSL subscribers under this bargain rate will remain as customers when the cheap rate goes up.

 

[Scroll]

All I know is it says on the website the $10 rate is only for new subs who haven't subscribed in the last 12 months. Whether you can get a rep to give it to you as a current sub for $10 I can't say. But after dealing with them in the past I wouldn't count on it.

 

[thanej]

Cavalier DSL

I currently have Cavalier telephone DSL. For the first year it was $15/month for up to 6 Mbps (unfortunately the fastest that I can get is just over 3 Mbps--still plenty fast for Sky Angel though). The normal price is $25/month which is still a good rate for 3 Mbps.

I'm not sure how it all works but somehow Cavalier contracts with AT&T to do all the physical work with the phone lines. Cavalier does not have a physical presence where I live but they provide the telephone and dsl via AT&T's lines.

I know Cavalier is not available in every state but there may be a similar provider in your area that provides dsl (and phone) service at a lower rate than your local provider (at&t, verizon, etc).

I agree that the added cost of broadband is a show-stopper for many that would like to have Sky Angel iptv. Since I already had broadband it wasn't as big of a deal. I do think about the fact that Sky Angel is now tied to my Internet service compared to when it was on the satellite.

 

[lumpkin666]

Hmmm.. my service has not gone up in price, but we went from 5mbps up/down to 15mbps up and 5mbps down without a price increase (and only a simple footnote on our bill). The internet portion of my fiber-to-the-home phone/tv/internet bill still costs me the same $14.94 per month that it's cost for several years (as long as I can remember).

 

[kevinbct]

Hmmm.. my service has not gone up in price, but we went from 5mbps up/down to 15mbps up and 5mbps down without a price increase (and only a simple footnote on our bill). The internet portion of my fiber-to-the-home phone/tv/internet bill still costs me the same $14.94 per month that it's cost for several years (as long as I can remember).

What company provides this service?

Wow....it seems like some of you folks have great deals on internet!!! Someone mentioned a few posts about that they get 1.5 mbps from their cable company....Internet only for 21.95. As a basic package we can get 768kbps internet for 24.95 / mo, but we have to have basic cable also...about $14 or $15 a month.

 

[lumpkin666]

What company provides this service?

Its a local company call MCG. They do Fiber to the Home, wire your entire home for internet drops, tv drops, and phone drops, and provide up to 5 TV's all for the free installation. My bill for 6 independent TV tuners, phone service, and internet service is less than $80 per month. The internet portion costs $14.95.

 

[thanej]

Fiber to the Premises

Wow lumpkin666. You are truly blessed to have that kind of bandwidth at such a great price! Fiber to the premises still seems to be a rare find in the United States. And rarer still is high-speed Internet at a low cost.

Perhaps someday it will migrate to the rest of us? It seems to me that local governments should be focusing on rolling out fiber infrastructure rather than municipal wi-fi which hasn't been working out so well for them.

 

[Scroll]

I actually think the some form of WiFi has much better potential as a whole because it is easier for many rural areas and for moving vehicles. That said I'm not sure what would work best for folks living in say the Smoky Mountains.

But just a reminder to all that when they install fiber the tendency has been to remove your old copper wiring without asking so that if you ever wanted to go back to copper it would cost you a rewiring job. Or so I've been told.

Fiber (FIOS) is in my area but not quite here yet but the local going price ain't all that great, at least for me.

 

[lumpkin666]

But just a reminder to all that when they install fiber the tendency has been to remove your old copper wiring without asking so that if you ever wanted to go back to copper it would cost you a rewiring job.

That's probably dependent on how shady the installing company is. I've heard the same when installing satellite or going from satellite to cable. Here, they don't touch the cable - no reason to since they are running fiber right into the home. I actually had cable internet for a few weeks until my subscription ran out.
I think what you hear about happening with Fiber is that some places don't really run fiber to the home, they just run it to the neighborhood, so then the last haul they use copper - sometimes they reuse the same copper drop that you were using for your old cable/internet.