DSL Service for $10 a Month

The Associated Press is reporting that AT&T is now offering DSL broadband service in 22 states for the unheard-of price of only $10 a month, cheaper than any other advertised plan. However, the article neglects to give a list of which states. I did find a list elsewhere: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Nevada, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

The same company charges $19.95 a month for DSL where I live.

The Associated Press article does say that the announcement "is slightly hidden on the AT&T website." It must be well hidden because I haven't found it yet. If anyone reading this article finds the announcement, please post it as a comment at the end of this article.

You can read more about this new, low rate at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-06-19-att-dsl_N.htm

While not mentioned in the article, I assume that the customer must buy the DSL modem, available for about $50 or so in many places. Also keep in mind that DSL is available at many different speeds. I am assuming that $10/month gets you the slowest DSL speed available: download speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and upload speeds of up to 128 kbps. Still, that is much, much faster than dial-up connections.

If you live in one of the above-mentioned states, why are you using dial-up? You can have roughly fifteen times the speed in an "always on" environment for ten dollars a month.

Comments

[theKiwi]

The modem is free. See

http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/inetsrvcs_agreement_plans_pop.html

for the details from bellsouth.

This is part of the agreement with the FCC that let ATT buy BellSouth. I also read that ATT have 6 months to offer up "naked" DSL - ie DSL that doesn't require local phone service from ATT as well which the offer above does.

Roger

[Marilyn]

The modem is free.
But you have to have been using the service for 90 days, then send in a rebate postcard, then wait about 12 weeks............. There is also something about the price reverting to $14.99 after a year.

[D.A. Vaughn]

DSL for $10 sounds like a good deal. You ask, why are we (some of us, anyway) still using dial-up? To get DSL one must live within 2 or 3 miles of the telephone "central office" (an outmoded term, but it persists). Many of us live considerably farther away from whatever the phone company now considers to be a central office. In fact, many of us live in areas we can can't even use a cable modem because there is no TV cable in our neighborhoods. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I live in a rural area, but I am only 40 miles from the capital of California - one would think we would have all the broadband access we need, but the only alternative is satellite: very expensive, not all that good, and depends on whether you have a totally unobstructed view to the southern sky, which is often prevented by trees or hills. So when you envision a broadband utopia, remember that a lot of otherwise good people are condemned to very narrow bandwith (my best connection speed is a nominal 31.2 Kbps, in reality much slower, with frequent disconnections). Just thought you'd like to know...

[Carole]

What D. A. Vaughn says is very true. I live in a suburb of Chicago with DSL customers surrounding me in other suburbs, but I can't sign up either, even though the ATT customer service rep said we'd have an excellent connection being within 5,000 feet of a "switching" station. I've been told that there's a circuit board that needs to be set in place in order to "turn on" an area, but ATT doesn't have the support personnel to cover additonal customers so, it's not being activated. My problem with ATT is don't advertise what you can't deliver!!!

[Donna R DiPesa]

I have Bellsouth and the advertisement is a small blurb on the side of the sign in site for my webmail.

[Katherine McArthur]

I agree with Carole, ATT should not advertise what they can't deliver. My neighbor called ATT and someone told him they'd be there the following Friday to connect him. My son-in-law and I got excited, but come to find out the gal didn't know what she was talking about and we are not in an area covered.

[Jinny Collins]

How 'bout this? We moved to Oregon in July, 2000, bringing our ATT cell phones with us. In September, we got a call saying that we do NOT have the right to use ATT in this area!" They canceled the service, and we were forced to go to either Sprint, Cellular One, or US Cellular. We did, and still can't have ATT anywhere here. They must have some kid of agreement among themselves who can serve where. (I was quite interested in acquiring an I-Phone, too, but no luck!

[Wayne Thalls]

This article appeared in the June 22 iss of the weekly e-zine of the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz (CA)

Affordable High Speed Internet
by Wayne Thalls

Here in our area AT&T acquired the dominant telephone company in a merger deal some time ago. More recently, this telecommunications giant negotiated a merger with BellSouth. AT&T now provides service to 22 states. As part of the approval process for the $86 billion BellSouth merger, the FCC mandated changes in service offerings aimed at increasing competition and thus lowering prices.

Among the requirements was an order to provide basic highspeed Internet service in all the 22 states now served by AT&T. In compliance with this order, the company quietly announced a new DSL offering last week. AT&T Yahoo now offers broadband Internet service at $10 per month. In a partnership, AT&T provides the communications resources, while Yahoo provides e-mail and Internet access. This price is available to AT&T telephone subscribers who have never before subscribed to DSL service. DSL is not available in all areas. The actual data speed is dependent upon the subscriber's distance from their nearest telephone central office.

In any event DSL is faster than dial-up access. It has the further advantage of freeing up the telephone line for normal usage, even when someone is prowling the web. In addition to being an AT&T customer, you must sign a one-year contract. The same service is available without the year-long commitment for $14.99 monthly. The required DSL modem is free after a rebate.

It appears that AT&T is not required to actively promote this offering. Visiting their web site at http://www.att.com doesn't provide obvious access to the information regarding the service. The service is available only by placing your order online before 7/30/07. That cutoff date is found in the very fine print.

To find details and determine if DSL is available to you take the following steps when connected to http://www.att.com .

1. At the bottom of the home page, under Our hottest internet deal ever! click on learn more.
2. Answer the questions and click continue.
3. Enter your 10 digit telephone number and click continue.
4. Click on see important details to study the contract details.
5. Study the chart of DSL Internet offerings. Click on the Package description for full details of the particular product.
7. Click on Add to cart for the package you choose. You will be presented with a pitch to upgrade to a different level of service. Follow the remaining instructions to complete the order. It is a bit of a hassle.

[Deb Delgato]

Ok...I couldn't locate this deal at all. I went to live chat on BellSouth and they told me that the only to get the $10/month deal is to bundle it with phone service. I thought I read that you didn't need to have the phone service to take advantage of the DSL deal. I went to the att website to follow Wayne's steps but could not find "Our hottest internet deal..." Any suggestions???
Thanks

[Mark Barker]

Several years ago, we signed up for DSL with BellSouth, who told us it was available at our location. After purchasing the equipment and having the service "installed", we learned it did not work because we were too far from the central office. We managed to get rid of the equipment, but we were forced to pay the
$50 installation fee. It can be a rip-off. Don't take their word that it will work at your location until they send out a technician to determine whether it will work.

[Susie Perkins]

Having two computers, went with AT&T on one of them and lost all of the archived mail. They advertised to let you keep your ol' e-mail address, yes, if you pay the initial server a yearly fee. The set up fee and equipment is a bit costly. You still have to pay a monthly fee as expected. Then the ol' server says you are using a 'free service' then changed the way things were handled and then lost all of the contacts from the entire address book. Also changed the user name and the password. Asking for a new password, it doesn't work either. Being on line is not an option, it is not usable. Trying to speak to a PERSON at either MSN or AT&T is not an option either. The new 'free' system at MSN has NO TELEPHONE support, only through the net, which you can not get on.
Be aware of any gift horse, they still need oats.

[B. R. McNamara]

The agreement should have required AT&T to not only provide the reduced-rate DSL service, but make it available to all customers. Many -- especially in remote areas -- truly can't use it.

For BellSouth (probably also AT&T), you can go to FastAccess.com and punch in your phone number to see if you can get it. Sometimes, you can change numbers and have service, but that's really unusual.

The DSL ordering service reps really don't have a clue. A BellSouth customer I do support work for was told it's available, yet the installer said no. That's when I learned about the FastAccess.com site.

[L.C. Russell]

Bellsouth/AT&T can't deliver what they promise in my neighborhood either. I signed up for DSL service with them & about 2 weeks after my installation was to be completed and after repeated calls to their customer service department, I was told they didn't have the capacity at my "central office" and have not intentions of expanding capacity. That hasn't stopped them from continuing to send me advertisements for the service.

[Donald Baisch]

I have been a user of DSL from PacTel starting in 2003 then through sbcglobal.net,
My last 12 month contract for the "Pro" version expired in May for $17.99/mo. I am now contracted for the next 12 months @ $24.99/month for the Pro version (+3MB) download speed. Upload is still slower.

[Hugh Busey]

I use a broadband cable package. Works fine but is fairly expensive for a retiree. Checked with AT&T and found three levels of service, the lowest being $14.99/month and slow. The fine print said to "check here to see if I might be eligible for even cheaper service". After entering my current telephone number, they said I was not in an area covered by DSL. However, my neighbor across the street is in another exchange and does have it. Ya gotta love AT&T!

[Hugh Busey]

I use a broadband cable package. Works fine but is fairly expensive for a retiree. Checked with AT&T and found three levels of service, the lowest being $14.99/month and slow. The fine print said to "check here to see if I might be eligible for even cheaper service". After entering my current telephone number, they said I was not in an area covered by DSL. However, my neighbor across the street is in another exchange and does have it. Ya gotta love AT&T!

[Jay]

If everyone would send a copy of Dick's article and the reader's comments, along with a request to change the definition of high speed broadband internet access to the FCC, their Senator, Representative, State Governor and anyone else they can think of, it might lead to improvements in service and higher speed access for a lot of people!