en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
| its about time...
I was thinking about getting Uverse (or at least price comparison), and the local AT&T store reps told me that its POTS or no POTS, and they never heard of CallVantage. POTS phone makes U-Verse too expensive ($39.99 + $4.95 Canada = $57/month after unfees). CallVantage is $25/month.
I can only hope that AT&T doesn't do the TimeWarner/Comcast style and charge $40/month for their 'new' VoIP service
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Night-Owl
join:2007-01-11
|  Ill will
The "AT&T don't say anything bad about us Triple/Quadruple Play"! 
Wonder if you'd get hung up on if you complained about your DSL or U-verse service over your Cell or VoIP as a TOS violation?  |
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Chris 313
Come get some
Premium
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA
clubs:
·Comcast
·Comcast
·Charter Pipeline
 ·Comcast Digital Vo..
·AT&T CallVantage
| Bundle the CallVantage 24 a month plan with...
Oh, please. These guys are just beating around. Bundle CV with DSL and Uverse and be done with it.
I've had flawless performance with CV. Although, I have cable at 8/768. Still you should get great quality with 5.5/1000 that Uverse and the various DSL packages delivers. |
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benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL | What If You Don't Care About VOIP?
I, for one, only want POTS and fast Internet access. |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs: 
| Interesting..
they're worried about everything "old" when it comes to this..but when it comes to uverse itself..what the heck.
Let's give it to them via their old copper instead of doing it the RIGHT WAY..
AKA..FTTH.
AT&T..when the he** will you ever learn that this time around..it will just PAY to do it the RIGHT way the FIRST time?
At some point in the life of everything, it simply pays to replace it with the latest and greatest instead of all this beating around the bush band aide fixes you're trying to apply to it to freaking save a buck.
MR AT&T CEO..
STEP UP TO THE PLATE.
TELL YOUR SHAREHOLDERS YOU ARE A LEADER>>AND NOT A FOLLOWER.
Tell them that you MUST proceed now with doing this job the RIGHT way.
Or cable Docsis 3.0 is going to kick your ever loving A$$ to the Stratosphere!
IT IS COMING AT&T. THE CABLE MONSTER IS COMING.
COMCAST CEO ROBERTS ALREADY DEMO'D IT..
150 to 200MB CABLE HSI.
It will NOT take them long..nor all that much money to do this.
They are taking ALL your phone customers as it is..and you will have NOTHING to compete with this.
They are going to triple play you right into the business failures of the century history books.
Verizon ALREADY knows this!
And is doing the right thing.
Why not join them?
Before it is..
just too damn late.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! |
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koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs:
·Bresnan Online
| Firmware Upgrades
Firmware Upgrades are already being pushed to the RG to enable VoIP:
»www.uverseusers.com/component/op···c,3273.0
»www.uverseusers.com/component/op···_updates |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | reply to benc
Re: What If You Don't Care About VOIP?
Then you have to go for plain DSL and POTS.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:
| Wait a minute..
just a dog gone second..
Is THIS story saying what I THINK it's saying?
That AT&T plans on having VOIP REPLACE POTS?
»money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/art···9029.htm
I intially read Karl's article to mean THIS voip was going to replace CallVantage.
But in reading the story itself..it sure doesn't sound that way.
Another milestone here is AT&T now apparently saying that VOIP is EVERY BIT AS RELIABLE as Pots?
Is THAT what they're now saying?
And, they'll be bundling ALL this together for 99.00 bucks a month?
Jeesh..they're starting to sound just like they'd like to be Comcast.
AT&T, here's some real bad news for you though. People don't want it via those old copper lines either.
In fact, way too much about what comprises your company is just way too old for todays standards.
Now, you want to be in the HDTV business.voip..HSI...you need the lines to carry it all properly to the consumers.
Or, they're going to choose the cable co's.
To give you credit..you ARE on track with the VOIP but he**..any first grade BBR member could have told you that a year ago.
Pots..is dead? VOIP..Lives?
Say hello to Comcast..TW..and the other cable co's.
They're coming for you.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! |
|
BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Night-Owl
join:2007-01-11
| reply to benc
Re: What If You Don't Care About VOIP?
said by benc  :I, for one, only want POTS and fast Internet access. A new line on your bill "Non-qualifying Bundle recovery cost fee $5"  |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to Rick
Re: Interesting..
I don't think they really care.
They've committed (and deployed) VRADs.
At some point, the last mile will be replaced with FTTH or other technology.
The other reason that it hasn't really concerned them:
»Comcast Houston Hikes Broken Down
Why should they join them on the price hikes ?
Why should AT&T be pushing for +200Mbps to the home ?
Since this service (Uverse) is based primarily on TV service (I.e. its a requirement for Uverse), they NEED to make sure that they can drive multiple HD streams. This will cause more issues to Uverse deployment than not having +6Mbps service, IMO.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | reply to Rick
Re: Wait a minute..
They may be coming for you, but in Putnam the big cable guys aren't available, so I would love to see U-Verse in our area. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | reply to en102
Re: Interesting..
delaying the inevitable fiber system = dangerous business.
i guess they know what their doing though, huh? |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | oh joy. all the goodness of overpaying for phone service!
this is AT&T's wet dream: switch everyone from pots to voip, keep the bundles to make it seem like it's a sweet deal!
anything to keep the cash-cow pots payments coming in! |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to Rick
Re: Wait a minute..
quote:
AT&T, here's some real bad news for you though. People don't want it via those old copper lines either.
In fact, way too much about what comprises your company is just way too old for todays standards.
And just how many people don't want it over old copper lines ?
I have +30 year old copper (RG59) at my house, by 1 year old POTS wires to the house from the breakout box.
quote:
Now, you want to be in the HDTV business.voip..HSI...you need the lines to carry it all properly to the consumers.
I agree on that. Uverse will possibly lose its primary targeted customers (TV). If people can't get what they want on the 'base' package (TV), then there's no Internet or VoIP through Uverse. Basic TV, HSI and VoIP work.. it just isn't the 'high end' product that some will want.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:
| reply to en102
Re: Interesting..
I couldn't disagree with you more. Despite what they've committed to, I'd suspect that a uverse adoption rate of 100k customers per 2.5 million homes passed so far has them tossing and turning bigtime at night these days.
Whether they continue to add some to that or not isn't the point. The point is that for this next generation service to have such a dismal showing so far doesn't bode well for the future at all IMO.
What about when they hit 18 million homes passed?
Does the 100k number simply become 700k people instead?
That barely covers 2 quarters of their loss of landline customers..never mind anything else.
Uverse will be the biggest flop they've ever seen if that is the case.
I think you miss a real key point with your postion.
It is NOT easy for any company to move into another ones territory..especially when they're as long term and entrenched as they have been for decades.
It's not easy for Comcast to take voice customers..nor the telco's to acquire video customers.
If you are going to do it..and if you're going to even try..you'd better be armed with something that is really new and revolutionary.
Are you aware that AT&Ts subsidiary..formerly known as Ameritech..DID try to enter the tv business?
In fact, they did it with cable lines even.
For all intents and purposes..it was a flop..and only revived because WOW took it over.
But now, they'd like to not only get in the tv business..but the HDTV one at that. PLUS compete on the HSI front..PLUS compete on the Voip front apparently..as of today anyway.
They are going off to an ENORMOUS battle with no weapons at all if they stay on this copper course..and are going to lose that battle BIG TIME.
What you and others seem to keep proposing is that..at some point..they will go with FTTH.
My point is that they need to do it ...NOW.
Because there might not be time later on.
This will take them years to complete. It's a longer term strategy..not one that you decide overnight you just want to be in..when it's too late.
And, IMHO..they do themselves even MORE harm by continuing to try to modify and change things around.
The way to do this is NOT to put up hundreds of VRADS in an area..with the intention of taking them down if it doesn't work out. And, what Uverse is today is what is going to stick with people..in their minds..for a very long time.
It will make another transition very hard to accomplish because once people have shopped your service..it's tough to get them back for another look.
Obviously this has been well thought out by Verizon. And..they saw it this way.
Who's right and who's wrong?
It sure looks like they are on the right track to me..while AT&T is heading over a cliff.
FWIW..i also think that AT&T WILL go with FTTH.
It's not a matter of if..but when.
I'd find it really hard to believe that they're going to find these numbers acceptable for too much longer.
Imagine being their CEO..running a company with that many customers..and seeing these reports rolling in after all this time.
It would be suicidal to stay on this course.
100k customers is NOTHING to AT&T..compared to their size now.
Nothing at all.
Uverse..is a flop.
Sorry to have to be the bearer of the bad news.
--
The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! |
|
en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
1 edit | reply to morbo
It would be the 'last mile'. There are few FTTH buildouts on new housing builds. This is their gamble.
On the good: millions can be passed in relatively short time period
On the bad: its not the end product that AT&T should be delivering - requirements such as multiple set HD, higher bandwidth _should_ be on AT&T's goal list (wether or not they sell it).
Management will have to deal with this.
Costs are already starting to come down.
»gigaom.com/2007/10/01/making-ftth-cheaper/
Verizon has a much smaller physical coverage area, and typically serves higher density markets (east coast) vs. AT&T's typically midwest/south/west coast regions. What is feasible in one area, is not always feasible in another.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to Rick
It was easy for Comcast and Vonage to take telco customer... why ?
Lets see: POTS unlimited (in L.A.): $39.99 + $4.95 (Canada) = $57/month including 'unfees'
Vonage: $24.95
Comcast Voice: $45/month
As I've said many times... people do NOT want to pay for something they can get for a lower price.
I might try out Uverse once my DirecTv and DSL Extreme contract is up to cut costs (i.e. POTS).
Since I've had coworkers here in Valencia that have had (and still have) issues with their HD service on Cable since the Comcast/TW migration, I have no real interest, unless their service is at a better price point than the competition.
Wether its twisted pair copper, RG59, wireless (WiMAX, HSDPA, EVDO), smoke signals, I do not care, as long as the service does the following:
1. Is not overly expensive, or force me to pay for expensive service I don't want or need.
2. Is reliable.
3. Does what I want. TV, Phone, Internet, Wireless phone
4. Doesn't nickel and dime me with BS items such as 'remote fee', 'modem fee', 'outlet charge', 'installation fee', 'USF unfee', 'franchise fee'
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | reply to morbo
Re: oh joy. all the goodness of overpaying for phone service!
I'll be jumping ship if they attempt to charge $44.95 for VoIP like they do for POTS.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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Hehe
@ssa.gov | What if there is a major power failure?
What if there is a major power failure?
The pots lines will work for 2+weeks.
How long will VOIP work without power? |
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voipdabbler
join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT
| reply to en102
Custom call routing
As was noted, there's no way they can eliminate POTS without making a major investment in rural areas, which they just won't do. Their only other alternative is to sell their POTS lines that service rural areas, but that may draw the ire of states and federal regulators. I don't see POTS going away any time soon, no matter what any AT&T employee may say.
I have VOIP and like the price savings, but the average person may not tolerate the hiccups you will have with VOIP. Plus there are still many areas where cellular towers just have not been placed and hence no signal. Those areas really need POTS for dependable service. |
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