AtHome users lose Web connection
AT&T: Shifting users to own network causes outages
By August Cole, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 3:47 PM ET Dec. 1, 2001
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- AT&T said Saturday morning that it's begun to shift more than half of its high-speed Net access customers to its own network after AtHome ended service.
AT&T said that though it has moved about 86,000 customers, or about 10 percent, from AtHome's high-speed Internet service to its own, it will take two to 10 days to move customers in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, parts of Michigan, and the Rocky Mountain region.
AT&T spokeswoman Sarah Eder said customers would be notified by phone their service was switching.
AtHome was unavailable for comment.
Of the 1.4 million high-speed customers at the end of the third quarter, about 850,000 used AtHome's network, the company said. Other users from MediaOne will remain on another network.
AtHome supplied service to about 3.7 million users in total. Some users of the Comcast and Cox supported access indicated that they still had Web access. Cox told Dow Jones that it's still negotiating with AtHome.
For AT&T users, outages are to be expected, the company said. Users will get new domain names, as well.
So far, AT&T AtHome users in Chicago, Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area reported by e-mail that their service was down.
AT&T Broadband's help desk, via an online chat, said customers will be notified by phone, with messages left on voicemail if no one answers, explaining how to resume online service. The chat support said AT&T Broadband does not know when connections will be completed but restated a press release claim that customers will be switched over in two to 10 days. Customers will receive billing credit for days they are offline, AT&T said. Eder said the company was working around the clock to switch over service.
Up, then down
Earlier Saturday morning, San Francisco area users reported they had Web and e-mail access. AT&T has bid to acquire AtHome and service was supposed to transition over to its own broadband service.
A San Francisco federal appellate panel Friday night refused to enter the fray over the future of ExciteAtHome's Internet service and 3.7 million subscribers. See full story.
On Friday, AtHome's attorney said the company's management was unaware of any service issues.
But a Comcast AtHome subscriber said his service was working.
Danny Goldstein of Maplewood, N.J., said he has AtHome service along with a cable TV connection, billed together on his Comcast bill.
Goldstein said that his AtHome connection has been good, but as an example of back office confusion he received a pitch recently to connect to AtHome via Rogers Communications, which is in Canada.
Goldstein said he was sad and frustrated as an early AtHome investor. "Early on, it was very clear they had gotten themselves into so many goofy contracts that it was destined to fail."
Other ISPs are taking the change to offer alternative services, with offers of free use and no set up fees. See press releases on the offers.
Court decision
The AT&T cutoff of AtHome service follows a bankruptcy court ruling Friday in San Francisco. AT&T has bid $307 million to acquire the AtHome network but AtHome creditors and bondholders oppose that offer as too little.
A ruling said that AtHome could cut off service as a way of negotiating better fees from cable providers. Despite negotiations Friday night, it appears that AT&T has decided not to negotiate and instead switch customers on its cable network to its own service. Read about the court ruling and negotiations.
August Cole is spot news editor at CBS.MarketWatch.com in Chicago. Weekend Editor Gary Olson contributed to this report.