 Riss_CentaurMod'taur - - - - 4 On The Floor.Premium,MVM,Ex-Mod 2005-07
join:2004-01-20
Chicago, IL | reply to OnTheNet
Re: SBC lowers pricing to $19.95 w/o bundling LD In a nutshell from the press release:
$19.95 promotional pricing for SBC Yahoo! DSL Express and $29.99 promotional pricing for SBC Yahoo! DSL Pro available for new residential DSL customers. Offer only valid for orders placed online at www.sbc.com or through the Yahoo! online web affiliate channel, or if you qualify as an ALL DISTANCE® customer through the SBC sales channel; other third party channels excluded. Static IP products not included. Order for SBC Yahoo! DSL must be placed between 03/01/05 and 03/31/05. Offer not valid with any other SBC Yahoo! DSL promotion. SBC local service and one year term required. $200 early termination fee. At end of term, then-current monthly rate applies. If an ALL DISTANCE®-qualified customer cancels ALL DISTANCE® during the term, you will revert to the applicable term rate for DSL service. $150-$200 additional charge if technician install is required or desired. The equipment charge will appear on the first bill along with any corresponding and offsetting instant credits. Laptop users and some desktop users may need to purchase an Ethernet card. Billing begins on service activation date. Service not available in all areas. Subject to change without notice. Maximum speed achieved depends on customer location. Acceptance of Terms of Service required. Taxes and additional fees & surcharges extra. Other restrictions apply.
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I guess us current customers will have to wait and see.
-Riss
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I have a plan so cunning you can pin a tail on it and call it a weasel! |
OnTheNetPremium
join:2004-04-13
Broadview Heights, OH
1 edit | reply to Riss_Centaur
All of these issues could be eliminated if SBC (and all other carriers) were finally forced to follow the rules already in place about Cross Subsidization, though the carriers call it "bundling".
Cross Subsidization - (47 C.F.R. § 64.901(c)- If the scope of the rule were applied, the carrier can not use noncompetitive local telephone revenues to subsidize its Internet access services.
So far they have confused many of the people in D.C. about this, as in how they "discount" services to the carrier's affiliate ISP, in this case ASI. ASI is actually paying more for the service than retail is being charged, but because of the accounting of "discounts", this appears to be an acceptable practice.
Basic telecommunications is regulated under Title II of the Telecommunications Act as common carrier service; Enhanced Services, i.e., Internet access, are unregulated (meaning that Enhanced Service Providers (i.e., ASI) are not regulated like telephone companies).
There are two issues here; one for the residential consumer and the other for wholesale (competitive) customers. I will just concern this post towards the residential consumer.
The consumer is being forced to purchase a basic telecom service, i.e., voice, in order to have Internet access, in this case DSL.
In all, there are separation rules in place that are not being enforced and this is not fair to the residential consumer. In fact, if this rule set were enforced, a consumer would be able to purchase DSL regardless if they had basic telecommunications service with the carrier (local LEC), hence the "naked DSL" talks going around being a possible condition of the pending mergers.
With the current and existing rules, if there is a phone line attached to my house, I should be able to get whatever service or combination of service I want from whom ever, without purchasing unwanted services. |
