US Telco Support > AT&T > AT&T U-verse > U-verse internet only justification

U-verse internet only justification

reply to treaders
order internet+TV and then cancel the TV portion. They're not going to go to the effort of moving you off the lightspeed network (moving you off the VRAD).
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MarkyD, Paper Tiger
MCSA 2K3, SCNP, MCDST, MCITP, ACHDS, ACDT, ACPT, ACTC, A+, Network+ Security+, Server+, Certified Ethical Hacker

reply to treaders
Yeah - sort of sucks. I have DTV as well.

I suspect that TV service is a service that more people are willing to pay for the infrastructure overhead than Internet, which is why they've chosen to do it this way.

Eg. DTV x 3 tuners on plus package (+180 channels) = $55/month
While the U200 package 'has more' channels, it misses many of the ones I currently have (more isn't always better), forcing me to look at U300.

U200 = 59/month for 3 tuners
U200 + 1.5Mbps = 74/month
U200 + 3.0Mbps = 79/month
U200 + 6.0Mbps = 89/month

U300 = 79/month, discounted to 64/month for 1st year (2nd year = add $15/month for all U300 items)
U300 with 1.5Mbps = 79/month (same as w/o Internet)
U300 with 3Mbps = 84/month
U300 with 6.0Mpbs = 94/month
Note: the $15/month 'movies' discount is good for a year, and looks like 'movies' can't be removed from U300
BASICALLY: ADD $15/month to ALL U300 packages AFTER 1 YEAR

U400 = 99/month, discounted to 84/month (1st year $15/month discount)
U400 + 1.5Mbps = 99/month (+15/month after 1 year)
U400 + 3.0Mbps = 104/month (+15/month after 1 year)
U400 + 6.0Mbps = 114/month (+15/month after 1 year)

What I currently have:
DTV (old plus package x 3 tuners) = $55 + tax ($59)
POTS
DSL-Extreme 3.0 (2Mbps capped) = $24.98 + tax ($26)
Total: 85 + ~10/POTS = 95
Which puts me about the same as U300 + 1.5Mbps.

Assuming I get rid of POTS (currently use POTS unlimited for $45/month) and go to CallVantange (or similar)

U300 + 3.0: 84/month (really $100) + Vonage/Call Vantage $25 = $125 + taxes

DTV + DSL-Extreme + POTS = $58 + $26 + $45 = $128 + taxes/fees

POTS fees are expensive.

Cable (TW): (TV/HSI/Phone)
'All the best' for 12 months = 89.85 (extra charges for 2nd/3rd tv not listed $6.95/tv programming fee, $4.01/device 'rental' fee x 3)
Regular non-promo price: 114.95 (6Mbps/512kbps)

Prices all look pretty similar once you're done nickel and diming and adding in the taxes/franchise fees/usf, etc.

It comes down to stating ... who has what YOU want for the best price?
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Canada = Hollywood North

reply to NormanS
Agreed, your explanation makes sense but why not offer the internet only at a lower rate?

Given that the U-verse VDSL internet speeds appear to be faster (and more accessible) than the AT&T ADSL speeds.

I cannot obtain faster than 1.3Mbps on my AT&T ADSL connection because of my house's distance from the exchange (approx. 12,500 feet). I am assuming that U-verse will have fiber-optic cable closer to my house and therefore my accessible internet speed would increase, at least greater than 1.3Mbps.

Appreciate your thoughts.

My guess is for the time being they are going to have enough people willing to take the tv/internet bundle to not worry about losing the few customers who only want the internet portion. At some point, they will migrate legacy adsl customers onto the new network.

reply to treaders
I'm at 12,300' from the CO, and I'm capped at 1984/512kbps.
Uverse brings the fiber to the node (breakout box) typically up to 3000', allowing overall speeds over 100Mbps on VDSL 2+.
Rates are currently capped at 25Mbps, and 6Mbps is the max allowed for Internet

I suspect, just as AT&T didn't want dry loop DSL, they don't want Internet only Uverse. You could probably get U100 + Internet 6Mbps and that's as cheap as it'll get.

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Canada = Hollywood North

Let the forced bundling continue, aye. Fuhgettabout it, AT&T.

reply to MarkyD

how much does VRAD based Internet only option cost them ?
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Canada = Hollywood North

reply to treaders
Everyone is missing the point that at&t is not banking on internet for profit growth. IPTV is what they have CHOSEN to promote. In short IPTV sales is important and an internet sale is not or is a lot less important. You need to get past thinking that internet is the most important product in their bundling.
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R.I.P. Moby 1964 - 2007

That may be true, but i would pay them $100+ a month for 25mbs. They could run a second line or use the bandwidth available if it is thyere.

reply to treaders
I'm almost in the same boat as you, except that I'm apparently slightly too far from the VRAD for U-Verse at all at this point. I'm sure I could get a heck of a faster than 1.5Mbps DSL internet-only service from the VRAD though, which is what I'm stuck with right now from the CO.

But the TV portion is viewed as the cornerstone of the service (ha!) so you're unlikely to see unbundled internet offers anytime soon. And letting people get U-Verse internet-only that would generally not qualify for TV+Internet would cause non-uniformity of the service, or something. And unbundled high-speed internet connections? Ye gods! That cannot be allowed!

reply to treaders
wouldn't mind internet only ... but if there tv is even a little better than cable i'm all for it for the right price.

reply to treaders
I'll live in hope that 1 day I'll be able to increase my DSL speed, whether it comes in the form of ADSL, VDSL or another variation.

I just cannot face going back to cable (Time Warner now Comcast) in the Houston area. The unreliability of their network drove us crazy!

reply to treaders
I got stuck with only UVerse internet because they couldn't get the TV at 3150ft. I had ADSL, but they cancelled it thinking I had UVerse. So, I am stuck, unless I change m mind with only UVERSE internet. Only keeping it because of the 800kb uploads. Hopefully sometime soon they will be able to enable the tv portion.

reply to treaders
Actually a u-verse employee came to my house and said you CAN cancel the TV and not the internet.

Anyone know why they only allow 6.0mbps

Verizon allows 30 on their fiber optic network