At Home Woes Imperil 4 Million Broadband Users

Washington Post ^ | 11/28/01 | Christopher Stern

[oc-flyfish]

Four million high-speed Internet customers could lose their access to the Web as early as midnight Friday if a federal bankruptcy court judge allows financially troubled At Home Corp. to suspend service.

At Home is the cable industry's largest provider of Internet access, and its closure would cut subscribers off from their e-mail accounts. A shutdown also could jeopardize one of the fastest-growing sources of revenue to the cable industry, as disgruntled customers opt for other ways to get online.

"The whole service will be blocked," At Home spokeswoman Estela Mendoza said of a potential court order.

[oc-flyfish]

Yes, I consider this breaking news as millions of people will be affected by this.

I called Cox Communications today and spoke with technical support.  He basically said that the @Home website (user homepages) and email servers will be affected by this.  So kiss your email and homepage goodbye if they do pull the plug.

He stated that the network backbone infrastructure is owned by AT & T and that Cox owns the local infrastructure.  This means that you should still be able to surf the web and download email from other sources (not your @home account).

All of this information relates to Cox Communications, but I would assume that most other cable providers are in the same boat.

I would recommend sending out an email today to all your contacts and let them know that your account may go inactive.  I would recommend signing up for HotMail account or some other web-based email service.

Hope this helps clarify the problem and allows people to start making contingency plans. 

[oc-flyfish]

Does anyone know where I can find the bump lists?

[SlickWillard]

He stated that the network backbone infrastructure is owned by AT & T and that Cox owns the local infrastructure.

Then what in the world is the purpose of @home?

I guess someone has to be the sleazy middleman who takes a 25% cut of the action.

[ken5050]

The article doesn't state that the bond holders believe the company is worth considerably more..that's why they're playing "chicken" and threatening to shut the company down..and they have a very valid argument.....

[The Energizer]

Yes. I e-mailed people in my address book earlier this week, asking them to send me e-mail only at my hotmail account. Hopefully, that will avert the problem.

While I enjoy the speed of "@home," I have not enjoyed the overall service. I've had a number of problems in the past -- problems that were "@home's" fault.

[Tall_Texan]

One must marvel at anyone who can run this type of cash cow into the ground. As an AOL Time Warner Road Runner customer, I don't have to worry about this but it is truly fascinating to see @Home implode. AT&T is run by a bunch of heartless bastards who seem to think "what's in it for us" is a business philosophy but what must they have done to let @Home die on the vine this way? I can't imagine p*ssing off 4 million customers just to a lowball a consortium of which you own a majority stake. Unfathomable!

[oc-flyfish]

Then what in the world is the purpose of @home?

They are providing the servers for email and webpages (at least that is what the technician told me).

I also forgot to mention that Cox will be setting up their own web and email servers but they will be using a new domain name. So if your email address is currently freeper@home.com your new address would be something like freeper@coxdomain.com.

The technician also stated that he would assume (but couldn't guarantee) that people who already had an account name (freeper) would have priority and get to keep that name on the new domain.

[farmfriend]

I consider this breaking news as I use a cable modem with an @home e-mail address. Thanks for the post.

[oc-flyfish]

The article doesn't state that the bond holders believe the company is worth considerably more..that's why they're playing "chicken" and threatening to shut the company down..and they have a very valid argument.....

I agree. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[oc-flyfish]

I consider this breaking news as I use a cable modem with an @home e-mail address. Thanks for the post.

Thanks. I posted that part in there so the admin doesn't yank the thread from breaking news.

[Bommer]

He stated that the network backbone infrastructure is owned by AT & T

Well that explains it! I signed up back in April for AT&T wireless internet and phone service (not for a cell phone, but home based wireless that they have established in only a few states). Best damn phone and internet service I ever had all beamed to a square dish on hte side of my house. On October 23rd they announced that they were folding up shop and getting out of the home service to concentrate more on the wireless cel phone. I swear if AT&T is the last phone service on the face of the earth, I'll talk with smoke signals before ever trusting them again!

[oc-flyfish]

but home based wireless that they have established in only a few states.

This stuff is really neat. I am in negotiations with an ISP to do this for one of our remote offices which can't get DSL or cable.

[Bommer]

I highly highly recommend it! Takes 3 hours to install and your up and running. Throughput is very good. But if you see AT&T in anyway shape of form involved, drop out!!! Those @ssholes need to be broken up further.....with bats on their ribs!!!

[quimby]

Does anyone know where I can find the bump lists?

Bump list

[OrangeDaisy]

Earlier discussion on this article can be found here

[zog]

--thanks for the info to those effected, it doesn't me, I have a choice of tin can and string rural dialup or not right now. If it's not too much, could you either here or via freepmail send me just a tad of info (urls to look at or whatever) on this wireless subject? I am very interested in it myself, both as a customer and perhaps as a new local business, I've been looking for something else to do. thanks if you can!

[LibAcademicWelfare]

You can usually find 'breaking' information regarding the status of your 'net connection at www.dslreports.com. This is the third bankruptcy/disconnection broadband saga this year -- NorthPoint (DSL), Rythms (DSL) and now @home (cable). I believe AT&T has been involved in some way with all three!

[Trinity5]

AT&T, which already owns a controlling stake in At Home,"

If they own a majority share of @Home why can't they vote to purchase the rest? It's not like someone can outvote them.

[oc-flyfish]

Thanks!