Posted on 06/29/2007 6:45:49 AM PDT by kellynla
NEW YORK -- Without any sort of fanfare, AT&T Inc. has started offering a broadband Internet service for $10 a month, half the price of its cheapest advertised plan.
The DSL, or digital subscriber line, plan introduced Saturday is part of the concessions made by AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission to get its $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. approved last December.
The $10 offer is available to customers in the 22-state AT&T service region, which includes former BellSouth areas, who have never had AT&T or BellSouth broadband, spokesman Michael Coe confirmed Monday. Local phone service and a one-year contract are required. The modem is free.
The plan was not mentioned in a Friday news release about AT&T's DSL plans, and is slightly hidden on the AT&T Web site. A page describing DSL options doesn't mention it, but clicking a link for "Term contract plans" reveals it. It's also presented to customers who go into the application process, Coe said.
The service provides download speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and upload speeds of up to 128 kbps, matching AT&T's $19.95 plan.
The agreement with the FCC required the company to offer the plan for at least 2 1/2 years. Coe said he could not comment on future advertising plans for the offer.
The introduction of the plan, slightly before the deadline at the end of June, was first reported by The Tennessean in Nashville.
Another concession to the FCC is yet to come: a plan for DSL that doesn't require local phone service. AT&T has another six months to introduce that option, which should cost at most $19.95 per month.
Consumer advocates have fought for this so-called "naked DSL plan," because DSL can carry Internet-based phone calls for less than the price of local phone service.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Which states?
States that once had BellSouth and Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, etc. all who are now AT&T.
I use a faster plan now for business reasons, but that ain't bad.
CALEA is re: Homeland Security and mandates conditions where ISPs must maintain complete records of user connection activity...
That’s the government.
But this is about private business:
AT&T To Spy on Your Internet Traffic
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857703/posts
“The plan was not mentioned in a Friday news release about AT&T’s DSL plans, and is slightly hidden on the AT&T Web site. A page describing DSL options doesn’t mention it, but clicking a link for “Term contract plans” reveals it. It’s also presented to customers who go into the application process, Coe said.”
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=6431
also.....gotta watch out for that “up to” phrase.....it means claimed vs actual, and sometimes sidesteps the additional money to get anywhere near the “up to” theoretical
I pay 30-something/mo for a cable adv at 500kbps download.....and have never seen it below 470, even on a Sunday afternoon.....trying to save ten or fifteen bucks ain’t worth it to me.
Wouldn't that be around 100 kilobytes.
Isn't a bit 1/8th of a byte?
AT&T can share my web surfing with the Feds all they like if they would simpy allow me to get DSL.
I am stil on dial-up and will be for years before they bother to make DSL available in my area.
Funny, they dont charge me any less because I cant get it.
You can have your cake, you just can’t eat it. That is, with AT&T, you can have broadband, but you can only use it to web surf, no USENET, or P2P, or to transfer IRC binaries, or any other high bandwidth use. Probably even restricts VoIP.
So, in other words, you could save yourself a nickel a month and get NetZero dialup, to do about the same thing.
About as useful as MS Vista Basic on a computer with 256mb RAM.
Yes, I believe so. Not a very fast download speed, but suitable for those who use the internet sparingly.
Isn't a bit 1/8th of a byte?
Yep. Line speeds are measured in kilobits per second.
My bad.
I've been using the wrong terminology all this time.
My bragging speed of 5 megabytes just got cut by 7/8ths. ;(
I can understand your position. I don’t do anything that will bring the Feds in for a visit. It’s just that I harbor ill will towards AT&T.
I assumed there would be no Usenet access included in this plan, but are you saying a third party Usenet provider or P2P sockets are blocked ?
Too slow for me as well. I just am wating on Verizon to expand their FIOS internet.
One thing you should know about AT&T. They are the only major carrier to agree to rat you out to the MPAA and RIAA if they find you are moving copyrighted files across their network. Even if you are sending a copyrighted file from a DVD or CD you legally own to yourself on another computer you own, if you use the AT&T network to do this, you can be reported as a thief to the MPAA or RIAA and they will be able to come after you.
Not blocked and not censored. But with even a hint that you might be uploading or downloading copyrighted material, they will now turn you over to the RIAA and MPAA for lawsuit, as was announced a week ago.
How can you use USENET for anything other than text, and P2P at all, if you are under such a threat? Unless it is obvious, how are you to know in advance if a binary file is public domain?
In effect, it is like the phone company monitoring all of your calls, looking for keywords that might implicate you in a crime or litigation, then turning over such evidence to anyone they think might want to prosecute or sue you.
In effect, it would limit what you could say on the phone to something as terse as a telegraph.
The purpose of having high bandwidth Internet is just that, high bandwidth. If you can’t use it for that purpose, even with files you know are not copyrighted, you are not getting what you pay for.
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