[shifuimam]

Just found out about this today:

DSL service without a home phone line - finally!

Needless to say, I am changing my service tonight.

$30/mo for 3/1.5mbps down/up
$25/mo for 1.5mbps/768kbps down/up

This is, of course, useless to those of you outside of the US or in a service area that is not owned by AT&T. But I just thought I'd share.

[olePigeon]

Someone should let the AT&T salespeople in California know, because they want to charge $60/month for a dryloop 768k DSL line.

[shifuimam]

According to that CNET article, those rates are valid in California.

[CMYKid]

this is GOING to be valid in most all of the areas serviced by AT&T, former Baby Bell territories, etc. However it's not available right away and good luck finding a rep who knows exactly when YOUR area will be rolling it out.

[EndlessMac]

It took them long enough to get this feature. There are enough people who don't need or want a landline anymore but still want DSL.

[the_glassman]

Originally Posted by EndlessMac 

It took them long enough to get this feature. There are enough people who don't need or want a landline anymore but still want DSL.

I think it should be illegal for companies to require you to have a land line in order to have DSL.

[Rumor]

Unbundled DSL has been available from ATT in Cal for almost a year now. However, the catch was that the speed was slower than their tier one bundled rate.

[torsoboy]

Not available in Utah

[badidea]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

This is, of course, useless to those of you outside of the US...

...and it would be still useless even if it would be available here since it is waaaaayyyyyy to expensive and slow (except the upload rate which is mostly crap in Germany)!

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

Unbundled DSL has been available from ATT in Cal for almost a year now. However, the catch was that the speed was slower than their tier one bundled rate.

... and more expensive than if you buy it bundled with the phone services.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

... and more expensive than if you buy it bundled with the phone services.

Now the speed is great (faster than their lowest tier bundled service), and the cost is only a few dollars more unbundled than it is bundled with a phone line.

I'm paying about $12/mo after taxes and feed for my phone line, and the only reason I have a phone is so I can have DSL (no way I'm paying $50/mo for cable internet, no matter how fast it is). So for the same price I'm paying now for phone + DSL, I can get faster DSL. That's a win in my book.

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Now the speed is great (faster than their lowest tier bundled service), and the cost is only a few dollars more unbundled than it is bundled with a phone line.

So for the same price I'm paying now for phone + DSL, I can get faster DSL. That's a win in my book.

Exactly. These speeds are also faster than what I'm currently getting. The USA is shamefully behind when it comes to fast internet speeds for reasonable prices.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

... and more expensive than if you buy it bundled with the phone services.

Yep. Which is a crock of **** in my opinion.

For a year I had DSL from SBC/ATT and had to have a phone line as well for the speed I needed. I had a 6mb line. With the cheapest phone line, plus taxes, came out to close to $20. Add $34.99 to that and I was paying the same as cable.

Currently I have Comcast (options were slim) and pay $33 for six months. My roommate has DSL, but the line is horridly latent and drops often.

[Arty50]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

Currently I have Comcast (options were slim) and pay $33 for six months.

Yeah, but how much does it cost after 6 months...

^ Reason number one why I hate cable companies. In Charter's case, it's impossible to find a single ad that states the price after the intro period. Their website doesn't even list it. Deceptive practices...nah...never... F the cable companies.

[olePigeon]

Comcast has a no-contract policy. Every six months I cancel my cable and reorder it. I still only pay $33/month for a 10mbit/3mbit line. I go maybe 2 days without internet access.

When they reconnect it, it runs at 20mbit/6mbit until the service inevitably dies, then it reconnects at the proper speed.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by Arty50 

Yeah, but how much does it cost after 6 months...

^ Reason number one why I hate cable companies. In Charter's case, it's impossible to find a single ad that states the price after the intro period. Their website doesn't even list it. Deceptive practices...nah...never... F the cable companies.

I think it goes to $50 or $60. The nice thing is that I can renegotiate when that time comes.

[shifuimam]

For anyone interested...I just got my DSL service switched. I called at about 12:15PM EST and didn't even get put on hold - I went straight through to a CSR.

Service is indeed $23.99/mo for 1.5mbps down/768kbps up. There is no contract (yay!). They give you a fake phone number that serves as your new account number, and you have to call tech support oncer your DSL is reconnected in order to keep your @sbcglobal.net account information (username and password). It also cancels automatic billing, since you're essentially closing out your old AT&T account and getting a brand new one. You have to reregister for that, and it can take two or three billing cycles for automatic payments to kick in.

Service rates include all taxes, so your bill will be exactly $23.99 or $28.99/mo.

As an aside, I was surprised when she (a) did not try to convince me to keep my phone line, and (b) did not ask why I wasn't on AT&T wireless for my cell service. It was the best customer service call I have ever made to AT&T, hands down. She didn't try to sell me any services, and she gave me exactly what I wanted as soon as I asked.

Fin.