Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Sarasota, FL
clubs: | $40 a month?
$40 a month for VoIP service....AND bundling is required? Are they smoking crack? |
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jjoshua
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Scotch Plains, NJ
1 edit | Plus...
Add on taxes, surcharges, fees, unfees, activation, and deactivation charges.
What's the total now? I get $835/month but that may be a bit high.  |
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satellite68
join:2007-04-11
Louisville, KY | (yawn)
quote:
U-Verse Voice is available only with purchase of
Lost me right there. Go "bundle" yourselves in dog poo. |
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pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA
clubs: | $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...
why on earth would I pay $40 a month + dsl/tv fees when I can get a POTS line for $5.50 /mo?
Its WAY over priced. maybe if it was 10 bux for the 1000 min plan and required NO bundling then I'd even consider it. Otherwise, no way. |
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gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
1 edit | More high prices
There is a point between pricing services to make them seem valuable and actual cost + profit margin to draw customers.
ATT consistently goes way over that so the customers they do get, either don't have any other choice, are fools, or have so much money it doesn't matter.
VDSL is a waste of money, they pay to "upgrade" their service only to have that service obsolete and uncompetitive before it's even rolled out. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | reply to Camelot One
Re: $40 a month?
is it possible to smoke copper? |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
 ·Metrocast Communic..
 ·AT&T DSL Service
·ViaTalk
| reply to pokesph
Re: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...
said by pokesph  :why on earth would I pay $40 a month + dsl/tv fees when I can get a POTS line for $5.50 /mo? Its WAY over priced. maybe if it was 10 bux for the 1000 min plan and required NO bundling then I'd even consider it. Otherwise, no way. Because your $5.50 line comes with absolutely nothing. Try making 1000 minutes worth of calls on that line across the country and see what the bill is. |
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EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| VOIP vs POTS
What is the benefit to AT&T for offering this? I mean, the part of the phone line for POTS can't be used for anything else, can it? So that copper bandwidth basically sits vacant, while part of the bandwidth being used for internet gets taken up by an equivalent service... |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
1 edit | reply to morbo
Re: $40 a month?
They're smoking something...I think I'd have to be smoking something as well.
Problems with this service:
1. Internet and/or VoIP REQUIRES purchase of MS IPTV service  Cable will allow this
2. No 'signup' deals ? TW Cable triple play deals start at $90 / month (sure, add in ~ $12/month for a couple more TVs), but it at least comes with 6Mbps service, not 1.5!
3. Why isn't AT&T also promoting Call Vantage VoIP... if they want subscribers, its almost half the price.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to Camelot One
As has been posted before, $40/month is the going price point for digital phone services that come from the Cable companies (Comcast and Time Warner Cable are the big ones). And, they have been extremely successful. They are viewed by consumers as simple, reliable, and they like the fact that they receive a single bill and can call a single vendor for support. Consumers see that they save money versus their POTS service (which is typically well over $50/month with features and long distance). Consumers are very satisfied, generally, with their Digital Phone service, ranking it very high in quality and reliability. Can Vonage or even CallVantage say the same?
AT&T U-verse is adding Voice as the third component of their triple play (TV, Voice, Internet) so that they can complete directly with cable offerings.
You are not the target market for U-verse Voice. You are willing to go with a third party, install a new box in your network, deal with separate billing, setup, configuration, and support, all to save $15 or $20 a month.
AT&T CallVantage competes in this VoIP market also, and are right on the price point of $25. |
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to en102
said by en102 :Problems with this service: 1. Internet and/or VoIP REQUIRES purchase of MS IPTV service Cable will allow this Yes, but it is possible to cancel the TV and keep HSIA and Voice.
2. No 'signup' deals ? TW Cable triple play deals start at $90 / month (sure, add in ~ $12/month for a couple more TVs), but it at least comes with 6Mbps service, not 1.5!
Cable is famous for these. The other vendors (Satellite, FIOS, Uverse) not so much. I don't know why.
3. Why isn't AT&T also promoting Call Vantage VoIP... if they want subscribers, its almost half the price.
It's a very different market. See my post above. |
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to EPS
Re: VOIP vs POTS
said by EPS :What is the benefit to AT&T for offering this? I mean, the part of the phone line for POTS can't be used for anything else, can it? So that copper bandwidth basically sits vacant, while part of the bandwidth being used for internet gets taken up by an equivalent service... I believe that the frequencies used for POTS really aren't useful for other things, being in the kHz range. Maybe some telephone techie can verify this. |
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MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to pokesph
Re: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...
First the 5.50/month includes only 25 local calls/month (or something like that) and zero features. Plus fees take it to about $15/month.
Any POTS service comparable to unlimited VoIP in features and long distance will be well over the $40/month price point. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| reply to EPS
Re: VOIP vs POTS
said by EPS :What is the benefit to AT&T for offering this? I mean, the part of the phone line for POTS can't be used for anything else, can it? So that copper bandwidth basically sits vacant, while part of the bandwidth being used for internet gets taken up by an equivalent service... According to »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric···e_2_Plus
you get a extra 256 kbit/s upload for sacrificing the voice POTS. I guess the cost of programing that option into the provisioning system isn't cost effective. |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Ripoff....
More proof AT&T isn't thinking about the future but thinking about protecting revenue from the past (IE POTS and Long distance.)
It's very disappointing. Seems like Cox's bundle WILL be cheaper then AT&T U-Verse, or even a Broadband + VOIP + DBS Satellite will be cheaper then U-Verse.
AT&T needs to realize that VOIP needs to be cheap, and stop thinking about their old Telco POTS heyday.
--
"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) |
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kilometers
join:2007-01-24
Sacramento, CA
·SureWest Internet
·AT&T U-Verse
| Yay, I guess?
No thanks. I already have enough trouble using all my minutes on my at&t cellphone service. Plus I have thousands of rollover minutes as well. Besides, I could imagine it taking like 4 seconds for my voice to reach whoever I'm talking to given how bad my latency has been lately.
At this point I'm happy with using my cellphone as my main contact number. Plus I never get telemarketing calls on it. |
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jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL
 ·surpasshosting
·ViaTalk
| reply to KrK
Re: Ripoff....
You're right on the money here.
Even reliability isn't going to be such a big selling point in the future -- in 20 years the entire marketplace will be customers who have grown up with cell phones, including dropped calls, iffy sound quality, and dead zones. |
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pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to MyDogHsFleas
Re: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...
said by MyDogHsFleas :First the 5.50/month includes only 25 local calls/month (or something like that) and zero features. Plus fees take it to about $15/month. Any POTS service comparable to unlimited VoIP in features and long distance will be well over the $40/month price point. we have unlimited local calling and elected to not have a long distance plan (at extra cost) on this line since we rarely use it... the 5.50 (actually $5.45) includes all taxes and unfeees. |
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benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to pokesph
said by pokesph :why on earth would I pay $40 a month + dsl/tv fees when I can get a POTS line for $5.50 /mo? Its WAY over priced. maybe if it was 10 bux for the 1000 min plan and required NO bundling then I'd even consider it. Otherwise, no way. For the $5.50, you have the lousy POTS service.
Calls that are farther away from you will cost more than local calls, even if it's another U.S. number.
You don't get Caller ID, which I think is an "absolutely must-have."
You wouldn't have any other features either. Just dial-tone.
I have the maximum options on my POTS line, and it costs a bit over $40.
But I can call anywhere in the U.S., talk as long as I want, and it won't cost any extra. Plus, it doesn't rely on my Internet connection (and any associated problems) nor does it rely on my power. The only time I pay per-minute charges is if I call a different country. |
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r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium
join:2001-11-14
St John'S, NL | reply to Camelot One
Re: $40 a month?
Well this is in California where $40 CUSD (californian united states dollars) = $20 USD
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»www.ryanoneill.us |
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