JP
If you’ve never had the pleasure of high-speed internet, I truly feel bad for you. I couldn’t even imagine my life without a broadband connection. But if you really haven’t had it before, or just haven’t had DSL through AT&T, you can now get it for less than some people are paying for dial-up.
This past weekend AT&T released their $10 per month DSL package. They didn’t make a big fuss out of it, in fact, they really didn’t want a lot of people to know about it. The only reason that they are offering this is because it was mandated by the FCC that they introduce low-cost internet. If they did not comply, they could not acquire BellSouth.
The plan will get you 768kbps down and 128kbps up. Honestly, that’s pretty reasonable, in fact that’s the same as their $19.95 a month plan. You’ll need to go to Bell South’s internet services page and click on “term contract plans.” You’ll need to sign your life to them for a year, but if you’re coming off of dial-up don’t worry, you won’t want to go back.
What is really cool about that mandate from the FCC is that within the next 6 months AT&T will have to offer a DSL plan that does not require the user to have a local phone line. That has always been one of the pitfalls of DSL, you’ll pay more for the phoneline than you will for internet service.
AT&T Quietly Offers $10 Broadband [via dailytech]
One Response to “AT&T offers $10 DSL service to first-time customers”
mr magoooooo June 20, 2007
Unable to find anything about the $10 dollar a month service on AT&T’s web site and only passing mention of it on the BellSouth web page I decided to give AT&T a call. They are my local phone provider here in Pennsylvania and I also have their cell phone service (my wife got me stuck in some 2 year plan.) After being passed around and given multiple numbers to call I was finally given 1-800-967-5363. This will allow you to talk directly to the DSL department with any questions regarding this matter. I should note that all representatives I spoke with were obviously outsourced, probably Indian, so it made communications difficult and frustrating.
My first go resulted in the representative saying that the $10 offer was not available to me so I asked to speak with the manager. The manager said the “special offer” was only available in 22 states. I asked him to list them and he gave me the following: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. I asked him why it is only available in those states. He didn’t know. I then told him that I had family in California who would be interested in this DSL price, how do I directly access the AT&T web page that details this “special offer.” He directed me to att.net which uncovered nothing, then to att.com/localhelp which also uncovered nothing, finally he told me to go to newatt.com which redirects you to attfashion.net a site selling shoes. At this point he was getting frustrated and said he would connect me to one of his “DSL specialists” to resolve the matter.
Can you guess what happened? He redirected me back to the main menu of 1-800-967-5363. *sigh* I waited on hold again for another outsourced Indian representative. This lady was armed with a lot of information. She was obviously reading a printed statement and basically said that the $10 offer is only available where BellSouth owns the land lines. Because Verizon owns the land lines in Pennsylvania the service is not available. I asked when the offer would be available to Pennsylvania and she said she did not have that information.
She then tried to sell on the 19.99 DSL offer. No thanks. Much faster than the $10 offer! No thanks. How about AT&T dial up? No thanks. Its very fast with an accelerator! No thanks. Would you like AT&T wireless? I have it already, it sucks and is overpriced. How about adding another line? *CLICK*
That was my experience. I say to hell with AT&T.
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