Verizon Targets Dial-Up Laggards

I went with cable. At that price, I could get 12/2 or better from cable.

For a second there, VZs idea sounded good.

It sounded good - as a marketing spin - for those that've managed to do without broadband access all these years or remained with dial-up services only due to extended loop length from their local CO (i.e. typically over 18,000 ft.) & poor line conditions from near zero infrastructure maintenance by VZ, as more customers are deserting to cable HSI.

Could this explain the recent wave of postings, complaints & trouble tickets filed by the "more educated & informed" dsl geeks (users) noticing drops in their line speed, including yours truely?

Let's see, rename the bundle, reclassify the speed plan, lower the threshold of the "starter plan to a fast plan" and by then commiting the (existing) customers to opt for a new contract term of 12 months (lowered price ??? for already reduced speed, with a defined 20% negative variance or drop in speed as being acceptable & within limits) - nice try, VZ.

Give them an A grade for efforts for the smokes & mirrors.

I did the same and it wasn't all about pricing packages, Verizon, though the added charges on landline services for not using long distance didn't help. It was the fact that Netflix require 5Mbps minimum for streaming HD. Netflix currently has 15 million customers and are projecting 17 million by years end. I will probably take advantage of a bundled basic cable/standard HSI package fro TWC when my one year $34.95/mo. special is over, and you can't offer me my networks in HD can you?

Bottom line is what you're doing is cosmetic and it's not a sign that you wish to compete as far as speed is concerned. But, I think you already know that.

What part of "Verizon Targets Dial-Up Laggards" don't you understand? The target market isn't streaming Netflix HD on their dialup lines, are they? So 1 Mbps probably fits their needs just fine. Unlimited regional calling plus DSL for ~$45 TOTAL (incl taxes) is a good deal. It's cheaper than my cable company's Internet only (no phone).

In Hooterville you can subscribe to 768K for $14.95 per month as long as you have CenturyLink's basic voice package. All thanks to CenturyLink formerly Embarq. Verizon product managers must have rocks in their heads if the consider 768K for $35.00 a month is a good deal. I award Verizon product managers a one douche bag rating for this deal.

Att always gave 768k for $10 due to the bellsouth merger and now I think it is 768k for $15.
Their special right now is 6mbps for $20 and everything else is $15.
I don't understand Verizons reasoning.

Not to mention all the hooters.

quote:

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tack 768-1Mbps kbps DSL service onto their landline for $35.

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That's not quite right. It's phone and DSL for a TOTAL of $35.

That sounds better. I am paying $32.99 for 3.0 DSL service so $35.00 for 1.0 would not make any sense.

Tim

Is the $35.00 monthly fee, before Verizon adds all of the crap charges to the bill, like the central office connection charge and the many others they pull out of their behinds or after?

not sure about the new bundle, but we're getting ~$52 per month including ~$10 in taxes and fees for the basic local-only voice plan plus 1.5M DSL ($30 per month). The only taxes applying to DSL are ~33 cents in sales taxes. The other $10 in taxes and fees apply to the landline part of the bill.

I'm curious as to what all the landline side of this new deal includes. Also, I'm curious as to whether there are even more taxes on it than there are on my parents' current landline. If we're talking about "only" $10 in taxes then at $45 per month for voice plus internet it's not so bad...though still not great by any stretch.

I have the same ~$52 local phone + 3 Mbps DSL plan here in NJ. The new $35 bundle includes unlimited regional calling, so it's a better phone plan than my (or your) local plan. The DSL is, however, slower.

Given that the target market is people currently using dialup, $35 (maybe $45 with taxes?) is still a good deal for unlimited regional calling and DSL that's 20 times faster than dialup.

Yeah...the issue around here is that the people still on dialup around here are that way because they can't get DSL.

People are willing to pay $40-$45 per month around here for service that *works*. The thing is, Verizon DSL pretty much stops at my house, and even here it's shaky. So all those folks on dialup just...well...stay there.

My girlfriend pays around $22 for 1mbs Verizon DSl with her Verizon landline.
$35 is a huge increase from what she got earlier this year. Prior to this year her cost was under $20 but it was 768Kbs DSl.

EDIT: I see that is for phone and DSL. Then that would be a good deal. but what phone features do you get?

The $35 includes unlimited regional calling.

A basic rural landline DSL connection costs Verizon and AT&T $8/month to operate. The irony of the USF subsidies is that it paid these companies their at-cost expenses *plus* 100+% profit value per line.

I know a few relatives that would jump on this but..

-they live MORE than 3 miles from the CO.
-cable ends 1 mile down their road
-they are on a MAIN county road
-their driveway is atleast 400feet long
-satellite is ridiculously expensive (let alone latency)

Why no FiOS on NY state county roads? Cuz their freakin long haul baby...

What other (fixed income) choice but dialup...

Exactly. I too know several folks who would be happy for any type of DSL, but are relegated to dialup or cell cards because of no availability.

You can get DSL or cable Internet and Magic Jack or other VOIP for a LOT less then this pricing.

if they're going after existing dialup users in the area, i'm sure the users would have gone with a cable plan if they could. verizon is trying to offer them a sort of "double play" since they can't get fios or cable. they can at least get something significantly faster than dialup and keep their landline for about the same price a separate line + dialup would cost.

     In this day and age, is there anyone, and I mean anyone who uses dial-up in spite of better options available?  I suspect that anyone who uses dial-up only does so because at their location, there's no cable, no DSL, no 3G/4G and they can't reasonably afford a T1.

     I don't think the now extremely small cost savings outweigh the shortcomings of dial-up over the lowest tier of DSL.  These $15/mo. price points have been around for a very long time.  Compare this to about $7/mo., which is the cheapest unlimited dial-up (no hours restrictions) I'm aware of.

     Honestly I'd consider signing up for DSL as a backup to my cable connection, but I'm too far from the C.O.

Keep deploying dsl to places that dont have it and you might get people to join.

That idea above would use to much thinking on the bells part.

Bring back 19.99 for dry loop 384/1024. Beats 128/768 for 34.95 from Time Warner RR Lite.

I asked the sales rep why they did away with the lower price for life deals and she said "well you did expect the price to go up right?"

Since the copper has been there 100 years its all paid for so why not keep the price low? Its not like they can't make money off it!

128/768 for $34.95??? What a sick joke! Makes me glad that I don't live in TW/RR Land. Even Comcast's 1.5/.384 economy tier beats the crap out of that.

Bah, no DSL here (20K ft.) but can get 3 KB/sec dial-up speed on its phone line. Same on former GTE lines. :P Here's a lame thing. Down the hill and streets, FIOS exists but not on my street.

Cable is cheaper and way faster here though, but the only decent priced and fast broadband service.

Find a way to do digital voice product over DSL for $29.95 and give the FASTEST speed the line can support ie 1mbit - 7.1mbit.. doubtful many lines qualify for higher, but if so, give the people what they want. BTW, this is inclusive of taxes and all fees.