AT&T Customer Grumblings Price hikes, address changes met with complaints The rumblings over AT&T Broadband's rate hikes could be heard throughout much of the U.S. this week, as cities from Minneapolis to Pittsburgh complained about the new higher rates; some irritated by overall price increases, and others upset over being forced to pay more if they resist bundle package marketing. To add insult to injury, some AT&T Broadband customers are facing their third e-mail address change in barely a year, as they look forward to being integrated into the Comcast mothership.
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  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
|  Cluestick, anyone?
some irritated by overall price increases Hmm... and then AT&T wonders why they lost half a million customers in 2002.
And another thing. How hard is it to keep the current email addresses? My previous bank went through 3 mergers involving thousands of customers and no one's bank account numbers changed (imagine all the problems arising with direct deposit, checks and other things if they did!). Why not allow existing customers to keep their exist @attbi.com (or whatever it is) email addresses, and then put all the new customers (if there are any) on with @comcast.net addresses?
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DRM == Doesn't Read MP3s
[text was edited by author 2003-01-16 15:41:16] | |
|  | | | Re: Cluestick, anyone? Just got a letter in the mail today about my Platinum package going up to $89.99. Ugh
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Pens: 18-17-5-3 44 pts | |
| | |  hep catdo da dirdy bird
join:2001-02-17
Decatur, GA | Re: Cluestick, anyone? Same here my silver package going up to $61.99 from $57.99. Comcast knows what people want huh.
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When I sleep everyone else is awake. Is that why I never have any money in my wallet? | |
| | | |  KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Re: Cluestick, anyone? Ah, the great Mega Merger. It's paying off already.... for them. | |
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| |  Go Chargers7Fa Shizzle Ma NizzlePremium
join:2002-09-24
Huntington Beach, CA | said by beeman65:
Just got a letter in the mail today about my Platinum package going up to $89.99. Ugh
I was thinking of ditching DCATV and going back to DN, but when I look back at what I was paying, with locals and extra receiver access fees, ATT was still cheaper. It sucks. I could tell then F-off, then pay more for satellite, get a worse picture (I actually get better pic quality with cable here), AND get a nice $15 increase on internet services. They get you coming and going.
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Made in America; tested in Japan. | |
|
|  gplutt
join:2002-10-25
Seattle, WA | If you have a Comcast address then you haven't anything to worry about. If you have an attbi account with the same name as a Comcast customer, then you have to change your address and the existing Comcast customer gets to keep his. | |
| | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
| Re: Cluestick, anyone? said by gplutt:
If you have an attbi account with the same name as a Comcast customer, then you have to change your address and the existing Comcast customer gets to keep his.
This is exactly my point though. If this were a bank merger, the customers would not be inconvenienced in such a manner. I really think the ATTBI customers should just get to keep their old addresses. It'd be one less reason to cancel. Personally, I just do my email myself (registered my own domain, etc.), so I won't be in such a hassle. All other aspects of the merger should completely transparent to the customer.
On the other hand though, I've been with Comcast HSI for nearly a year now, I've had very few problems with it, and for the most part it works well. There's no caps or anything like that. Its reasonably priced. These are what keep me as a customer, not the fact that Comcast is the only game in town. If Comcast decided to change these things, then I'm gone. Companies only screw customers when the customers allow them to. They earn my money after all, nothing makes them entitled to it.
I still think the problem of high prices for cable TV in general will have to solve itself as satellite becomes more popular. With more and more people switching everyday, eventually cable providers are going to realize that it is ultimately price that customers care about.
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DRM == Doesn't Read MP3s
[text was edited by author 2003-01-18 11:46:10] | |
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| Service Bundle I just keep wondering how they can explain this hike as discount bundling when the only service they are bundling is cable tv
cable tv + internet = discount
ATTBI phone + internet = screwed
Now if you were bundling services you should give a discount for any combined service's.
[text was edited by author 2003-01-16 15:47:34] | |
| | | |  Re: Service Bundle
Apparently having ATTBI Digital Phone Service + ATTBI Broadband Internet Service DOES qualify as a bundled service....for now anyway. So, if you are in the Minnesota Region of ATTBI and currently subscribe to ATTBI Internet and ATTBI Phone service you will NOT be paying the new higher Internet rate.
As a side note, he told me this won't be the case for new subscribers. So, if you currently have ATTBI Internet Service and wanted to get the bundled rate by switching your phone service from Qwest, or whomever, to ATTBI, its no longer an option. For some reason, if you currently have these two services, they qualify for the bundled rate. But if you now want add their phone service to get the bundled rate its not available.
It amazes me how poorly this whole price hike has been handled. | |
|
| | Imagine that... A buddy of mine who has ATT internet service has been very displeased for the last few months. but he called up, raised hell about his service sucking, and for some reason uncharacteristic to ATT, they fixed his problems. They even bought him a new modem.
His biggest issue, though, was that his contract promised him a static IP. But it changed 3 times in 1 month, so he called up to complain. the ATT rep said that he was never promised a static IP, despite my friend holding the contract and reading it out loud. Tough luck was all he got.
The biggest irony of this is that i will be changnign to ATT soon because my DSL service has been horrendous the last few weeks. I get constant disconnects and brown outs in service. | |
| | KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK Reviews:
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: Imagine that... said by MightyPez:
His biggest issue, though, was that his contract promised him a static IP. But it changed 3 times in 1 month, so he called up to complain. the ATT rep said that he was never promised a static IP, despite my friend holding the contract and reading it out loud. Tough luck was all he got.
This is how it works these days. When it comes to contracts, Terms of Service, etc, companies don't have to honor anything to the consumer...
--BUT-- if the consumer breaks his contract, TOS, whatever (Modem uncapping, for instance) then all hell breaks lose (and sometimes the front door as agents kick it in)
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"When the day comes that anyone can bend our country’s laws and lawmakers to serve selfish, competitive ends, that day democratic government dies" -- Preston Tucker, 1948 (Yep, it's dead.) | |
| | | | quote:
...my DSL service has been horrendous the last few weeks. I get constant disconnects and brown outs in service.
What are the symptoms of your brown outs?
Have you determined if the problems are with the ISP or the Telco?
Often switching ISPs is all it takes to fix the problem.
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| | mjm2k
join:2002-06-14
Arlington, TX | This sounds familiar.
When I signed up, it was with Excite@Home. For the low price of $29.99 I was able to connect with a static IP. If fact I still have the old paperwork with my DNS, WINS and the static IP.
Everything went well for 8 months.
Then I get a leter from Excits saying that they had noticed I was using a static IP in lieu of DHCP and that if I did not go the DHCP route I would have my service cut off.
So I called up Excite support and informed the Tech that I was supposed to get a statice IP address. He told me that Excite never said no such thing and that I would either have to conform or find another ISP. It had something to do, they said, that by using a static address I was slowing myself down. What bunk.
To make a long story short I stayed with a static IP until the day that I was no longer able to connect. So I was forced to go DHCP.
Life goes on. | |
|
 Aramis604I Represent Nobody But Myself.Premium
join:2000-12-15
Poway, CA | I bet that AT&T is just the first.... ..... of the major providers who will end up raising their prices. I believe that within the next year maybe two, we'll see price increases from most major providers for both DSL and cable. Should prove to be an interesting process to keep an eye on. | |
| |  GTaylorPremium
join:2002-12-14
Frisco, TX | Re: I bet that AT&T is just the first.... So I wonder if they're still going for the bandwidth cap. Might as well go for the whole package: Higher prices, e-mail address change, bandwidth cap.
Welcome to the new AT&T/Comcast merger. FCC must be patting themselves on the back for approving this merger. | |
| | KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | As the choices dwindle and the major players start polishing up their monopoly holdings, this is certainly only a harbinger of the future.... | |
|
 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
 ·Site5.com
 ·Comcast
 ·Callcentric
| Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... I have heard it too. The complaints not only on this board but from others I know have already bombarded me. To be honest with you, it doesn't suprise me or bother me one bit.
First, the price increases. Either get the bundle and save some money, or don't get it and pay more for your cable internet. That is the choice you have. It is legal to price it out like that, and bundled packaging of services have been out for years and done by many companies. The reason why Comcast is being bitched out is due to the fact they are changing to this "bundled services" thing in midstream. Other companies introducing bundled services had to do the same thing, and you can bet there were upset customers in those cases. Either way, pay or don't pay. You do have a choice.
As for the email change, that is secondary to me. I don't use my attbi mail and never will. For those of you who do use it, then change it and let your friends know what it is. No big deal. Yes, it is annoying. If you don't like it, buy your own domain and manage the mail yourself. Then you don't have to worry about it.
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My Domain
Nightfall's Hockey and Life Journal | |
| |  SarahPremium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2001-01-09
Cambridge, MA
kudos:5 | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by Nightfall:
For those of you who do use it, then change it and let your friends know what it is. No big deal.
It isn't that simple... I learned my lesson a while back so I only use that address sparingly, but many people use their e-mail address to register at web sites, sign up for newsletters, etc. etc. and it is a pain in the damn neck to switch them all. I use hotmail for most of that but I'm switching over to my own domain now... slowly but surely
I know people who use their ISP address for business. My company did that up to about 2 years ago. How many people have 1,000 business cards printed up with ---@attbi.com? It is a completely unnecessary hassle for the majority of their subscribers.
I'm just praying they won't institute bandwidth caps 
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Support small music labels - here, here, here, and here.
Check out my BBR journal! | |
| | | Q_ball
join:2001-09-28
Santa Ana, CA | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... Its very funny, you suggesting that businesses are running their entire email communication system through ATTBI... thats insane... I mean any decent business these days should at least hire a hosting company to host their email/webspace and be done with it... for the 200-300 per year it is well worth the expense to know your communications lines can't be cut by the whim of a larger corporation. | |
| | | | SarahPremium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2001-01-09
Cambridge, MA
kudos:5 | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... I didn't say they were decent businesses, did I? 
People do it though. I just look in my rolodex. I see @swbell, @earthlink, @adelphia, lots of @aol... lots of small businesses do this. People work from home. | |
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| |  ki1oPremium
join:2001-04-12
Atlanta, GA | said by Sarah:
It isn't that simple... I learned my lesson a while back so I only use that address sparingly, but many people use their e-mail address to register at web sites, sign up for newsletters, etc. etc. and it is a pain in the damn neck to switch them all. I use hotmail for most of that but I'm switching over to my own domain now... slowly but surely
This comcast.net email change will be the fourth email change for me in the past year, (@home.com, attbroadband.com, attbi.com, comcast.net) so about a week ago I decided to buy a domain email address. It took me over 30 minutes to change all my internet account email addresses (newsletter accounts, online stores, bank accounts, credit card accounts, friends and family) that I could do myself and I had to contact customer service for 2 internet accounts because for some reason they won't let you change it yourself. Lucky for me the hold time wasn't to long. Then a few days later, an account I forgot to change popped in my head and I go and change that.
Who knows what other cable companies will buy us AT&T/Comcast users in 2003. At least with this email address, as long as I renew it every year it will not change.
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Boycott The RIAA | |
| | | | | | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... I thought @home went belly up almost 2 years ago.
I'm surprised you had to change your ATTBI email address so often. I signed up with attbi shortly after @home blew up, and my email address has been @attbi.com since then.
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Join the telecom unemployment line. We'll be serving punch and pie. | |
| | | | | ki1oPremium
join:2001-04-12
Atlanta, GA | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by achuchma:
I thought @home went belly up almost 2 years ago.
I'm surprised you had to change your ATTBI email address so often. I signed up with attbi shortly after @home blew up, and my email address has been @attbi.com since then.
AT&T brought out Mediaone in Atlanta, and Comcast (@home users) in North Atlanta. AT&T moved all the former @home users in Atlanta to the Mediaone network (attbroadband.com). Then a few months later they wanted everyone to be on the same domain, so they moved us to attbi. That's why I had @attbroadband as one of my email addresses.
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Boycott The RIAA | |
| | | | | | | |  Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain....
Here in Chicago, we just went from @Home to @attbi, mostly because Mediaone and Comcast does not exist in Chicago.
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Join the telecom unemployment line. We'll be serving punch and pie. | |
|
| | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by Sarah:
I'm just praying they won't institute bandwidth caps
For me that would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We have way too many TVs for digital cable or satellite to be economical. But I use the heck out of my internet connection. If they cap it then I'll most likely be back on dialup... or maybe ISDN, I am not sure.
I still think that hard caps are not going to happen. Too many people are going to get pissed off and cancel. I've said it before, but I think the cable companies have too much to lose if too many subscribers quit their broadband service (in way of stranded investments, etc.) so it may not be in their best interests to start capping people.
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DRM == Doesn't Read MP3s | |
| | | | | | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by pnh102:
said by Sarah:
I'm just praying they won't institute bandwidth caps
For me that would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We have way too many TVs for digital cable or satellite to be economical. But I use the heck out of my internet connection. If they cap it then I'll most likely be back on dialup... or maybe ISDN, I am not sure.
I still think that hard caps are not going to happen. Too many people are going to get pissed off and cancel. I've said it before, but I think the cable companies have too much to lose if too many subscribers quit their broadband service (in way of stranded investments, etc.) so it may not be in their best interests to start capping people.
Well Pnh if you are doing ISDN in west chester your going to pay through the nose and pay for caps as well.
At least thats how it used to be. Im not sure sure that ISDN is an alternative. If you find that it is, let me know I'm ready to switch from Comcast as soon as I can find something that is more of a bang for the buck.
murdok610 | |
| | | | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by murdok6100:
Well Pnh if you are doing ISDN in west chester your going to pay through the nose and pay for caps as well.
A friend of mine here had ISDN prior to getting Comcast HSI, he was paying about $100 a month for it (including per-minute charges). [/QUOTE]
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DRM == Doesn't Read MP3s | |
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| | | Go Chargers7Fa Shizzle Ma NizzlePremium
join:2002-09-24
Huntington Beach, CA | said by pnh102:
said by Sarah:
I'm just praying they won't institute bandwidth caps
For me that would be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We have way too many TVs for digital cable or satellite to be economical. But I use the heck out of my internet connection. If they cap it then I'll most likely be back on dialup... or maybe ISDN, I am not sure.
I still think that hard caps are not going to happen. Too many people are going to get pissed off and cancel. I've said it before, but I think the cable companies have too much to lose if too many subscribers quit their broadband service (in way of stranded investments, etc.) so it may not be in their best interests to start capping people.
No you won't...not for 5 seconds. You use the internet so much that you will bend over and take the $15 increase not to have to deal with dial up...just like the rest of us. All these threats about people going back to dial up are all nonsense. Hell, I switched from Ultralink back to Choicelink and I'm already pulling my hair out when there is nothing slow about 1.8Mb. Once you get used to the speed, you won't do without it.
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Made in America; tested in Japan. | |
| | | | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by Go Chargers7:
No you won't...not for 5 seconds. You use the internet so much that you will bend over and take the $15 increase not to have to deal with dial up...just like the rest of us. ... Once you get used to the speed, you won't do without it.
If I can't afford it, then I'll have to! Seriously though, if the price of internet access increased to the point where it put a serious dent in my budget, say if it came down to choosing to pay the electric bill or the internet bill, then clearly, the internet loses in this one. You're forgetting that the vast majority of people in the USA view broadband as a toy, or a luxury item. There is a tiny minority of Americans who frequent websites such as this who do not hold this view, but given broadband's lukewarm reception in the USA, and the prevailing view (though it won't be implemented until a serious loss of customers occurs) that lower prices are the only way to increase the customer base, I can reasonably conclude that price hikes will hit a ceiling at which point 99% of the customers are gonna say "screw this" and not bother with it anymore.
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DRM == Doesn't Read MP3s | |
|
| | | Shenanigans!!!
Also, I wanted to paste this here, only because it is on-topic. (This was from yesterday.) -Bob
KSTP-TV just interviewed me for a story on this...
I just finished taping an interview with Ross Kirgiss, the consumer affairs reporter at KSTP-TV, channel 5, here in the Twin Cities, MN. Anyway, they really picked up on this story, since I only contacted them on Monday. It sounds like they have had several complaints about this, so it will be interesting to see what happens. For those who can get KSTP, the report is to air during the 5 O'clock news this Friday, and possibly the 6 or 10 news as well. Yeah, I'll be taping it! -Bob
P.S. Try not to laugh at me too much, okay? | |
| | | | | Re: Shenanigans!!! I'll be sure to watch it! | |
|
|  jhudson2Copyright Martyr
join:2000-11-07
San Marcos, CA | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain....
Actually there is one more option available to disgruntled, gouged and dissatified consumers not expressed in your like-it-or-lump-it philosophy: use the forces of government to make AT&T offer unbundled products at competitive rates.
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When a dog howls at the moon, we call it religion. When he barks at strangers, we call it patriotism. - Edward Abbey | |
| | |  Combat ChuckToo Many CannibalsPremium
join:2001-11-29
Erie, PA
| Government intervention You can do that, yes. Just be sure that you know for sure that this is "monopoly abuse"; because if the price increase is actually because cable was under-priced (ala the dotcom collapse), you're probably going to get you're lower prices; but you're also probably are going to lose services and quality... and at worst you may be left trying to figure out why the antenna works better when you stand next to it, and the optimal placement of tin foil.
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The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. -Churchill
[text was edited by author 2003-01-17 12:55:28] | |
| | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by jhudson2:
use the forces of government to make AT&T offer unbundled products at competitive rates.
But you have to keep this in mind. This is the same government that allows these mergers to take place in the first place. If there was a a movement to reintroduce some form of regulation to this industry, you can be quite sure that the companies involved would ensure that the rules are written to favor them. Therefore, government is not the answer.
As I said in a previous post, with the recent subscriber losses, this problem is going to eventually solve itself with the cable providers being forced to provide their products at a price which is more competitive than it is currently. The almighty dollar is a force that is way more powerful than the hands of government.
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DRM == Doesn't Read MP3s | |
| | | Go Chargers7Fa Shizzle Ma NizzlePremium
join:2002-09-24
Huntington Beach, CA | said by jhudson2:
Actually there is one more option available to disgruntled, gouged and dissatified consumers not expressed in your like-it-or-lump-it philosophy: use the forces of government to make AT&T offer unbundled products at competitive rates.
Yep and take away benefits used my many people to get more and pay less. Forcing unbundling just raises rates for everyone.
As much as bundling sucks for people who choose not to do it, this isn't isolated to cable television. You want to band 3 for a Dollar ads at grocery stores? You want to band loyalty rebates at car dealerships? You want to band coupons...seeing as those without coupons are unfairly charged more for the exact same item. And while we're there let us band rebates as surely someone won't have the correct coupon or made the deadline for sending it in.
Well crap...that means we have to ban all price increases since the person who buys the day after the price increase isn't charged the same amount as person who bought the day before.
The freedom of choice runs both ways. If you buy more goods and services from a company, you get the discount...if you don't...then you don't. It's simple and most every industry does it...and we would be pissed when they didn't.
Some are just pissed because THEY choose not to get the bundle and thus pay more.
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Made in America; tested in Japan. | |
| | | | Go Chargers7Fa Shizzle Ma NizzlePremium
join:2002-09-24
Huntington Beach, CA | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... And ban not band. | |
|
| | | said by Nightfall:
As for the email change, that is secondary to me. I don't use my attbi mail and never will. For those of you who do use it, then change it and let your friends know what it is. No big deal. Yes, it is annoying. If you don't like it, buy your own domain and manage the mail yourself. Then you don't have to worry about it.
O.k. if this is the case, then I want the option of a credit for NOT using their email servers. When I sign up for internet service, I expect a connection, email addresses, newsgroups (if they offer them), and webspace (again if they offer them.) If nothing but the connection is reliable, then I should get a credit so I can find the service elsewhere.
ISP's are now saying all these are "free" services so they don't have to credit you at all yet you know very well that your monthly fee goes to pay for those "free" services. | |
| | | SarahPremium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2001-01-09
Cambridge, MA
kudos:5 | Re: Whine, Bitch, Moan, Complain.... said by moonpuppy:
ISP's are now saying all these are "free" services so they don't have to credit you at all yet you know very well that your monthly fee goes to pay for those "free" services.
Oooh, pet peeve. Why do they get to pick and choose which services are reliable and which aren't? Makes no sense. I'm signing up for the whole package, not just the connection with a bunch of freebies. They sure don't make that clear when you sign up.
--
Support small music labels - here, here, here, and here.
Check out my BBR journal! | |
|
|  headlyte
join:2001-02-13
Salt Lake City, UT | The attbi emails will remain active through december of 2004 and you will receive a new comcast.net address on march 19th. I think that almost 2 full years is plenty of time to migrate your services to your new mail address. as for the rest of it, how many of you contacted the fcc about this proposed merger etc? Take an active role in these things instead of just bitching after the fact.
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my ¢.02 sometimes worth more or less | |
|
| | | | Re: As I've said many times $15/month?? That's nothing.
When Time Warner first offered cable modems here(it wasn't until late 2001) it was $79.95 if you didn't have cable TV and then $85 months later. I can't fathom the terror that they must have received bacause of that. I'm hoping that they made their decision to drop that policy because customer service reps threatened to quit because they were sick of getting harassed. That tells me the systems works. | |
|
Reviews:
·Comcast
·Speakeasy
| Pay more for Less The wife and I were cut off from ATT Cable on a Saturday Afternoon.
Monday Morning I called up Speakeasy.net and signed up for thier $59.95 DSL package. Tuesday Night we were connected and running on the new connection. We're still waiting for ATT to fix thier mistake.
Since ATT was going to raise thier rates, to nearly the same cost as Speakeasy, it was a no brainer. If I have to pay $60 for my connection, I WILL get customer service that a) has a clue, and b) values its customers.
No, we weren't about to get any more ATT cable services, and thier attitude about fixing thier own mistakes sealed the deal. | |
| | | Why not get earthlink cable internet? Why not get earthlink cable internet? They just resell AT&T BI service for $45. | |
| | | | Re: Why not get earthlink cable internet? Its not available in a lot of areas.
People, pay $8.88 a year for your own domain name, simple. | |
| | | | | W/domain name & hosting - same email addr for lifeW/domain name & hosting - same email addr for life
Get your own domain name, say at:
»www.godaddy.com for less than $10/year.
In addition, get an Internet host, small / personal sites for another $10 - $20/year.
Forward all email directed to your domain name (anything@yourdomain.com) to your ISP email name du jour.
Or just deal directly with your own domain's email system.
Just use:
Continental Cable, errr, I mean
MediaOne, errr, I mean
ATT Broadband, errr, I mean
Comcast, errr, I mean
????????, errr, I mean
???????? ... ad infinitum for its Internet connectivity!
--
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all other forms of government. - Winston Churchill | |
| | | |  dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | Re: W/domain name & hosting - same email addr for life said by nekote:
W/domain name & hosting - same email addr for life
Get your own domain name, say at:
»www.godaddy.com for less than $10/year.
In addition, get an Internet host, small / personal sites for another $10 - $20/year.
Read the fine print with these lowball domain name people. generally you're locked into using THEIR DNS servers, they retain ownership of the domain. should it become popular they can sell it right out from under you. | |
| | | | | | | Re: W/domain name & hosting - same email addr for life A very good point dvd536!
Which is one reason I suggested:
www.godaddy.com
They are one of the "good guys" - they don't sneakily take possesion of the domain name - they have been / are still(?) the straight deal.
But dvd536's point makes for an excellent warning.
That is *the* very nasty catch in the fine print for some of the low ball, so called, registrars - really scammers / rip-off deals looking to suck in the ignorant.
Web hosting on the other hand, is a different issue. *IF* you should get ripped off by a poor performing host, the worse that happens is you may lose the fee paid in advance ($10 - $20 for a year) and maybe any emails they might hold hostage, say, for non-payment / renewal?
So, if you do get burned, you simply buy a new web hosting deal somewhere else (hopefully a better place!). The secret here is that you return to the *REGISTRAR* and use their web interface to point yourdomain.com to the new hosting - the old host no longer gets any hits / emails!
Whereas, as dvd536 was suggesting, if you are screwed by the *REGISTRAR*, then *THEY* own yourdomain.com and can easily extend and delay your ability to keep / move yourdomain.com to another *REGISTRAR*. They'd own it / keep it. Most especially if it is a popular / often hit domain name - you can be held hostage / extorted over the ownership of yourdomain.com.
So, pay the $10/year or so with an honest, straight forward *REGISTRAR* and make sure to skip the $5/year "bad guys".
--
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all other forms of government. - Winston Churchill | |
|
kmoss
join:2002-09-14
Lisle, IL | What's going on with our society? Rate hikes for cable tv and broadband internet? You must be joking. Last time I checked, the price of a new car goes up every year, the price of real estate goes up every year, the price of groceries go up every year, the price of everything goes up every year. All people do is complain about how unfair this is and how bad the merger is. People, go cry somewhere else. If you are too upset about your monthly bill going up $4, cancel your damn service. I don't want to hear this b.s. monopoly excuse either - nobody is holding a gun to your head. Nobody NEEDS broadband internet or cable tv (including telecommuters - get your employer to pay for it). Everybody acts like cable tv and broadband internet is the sole purpose of their existence. Get over it. Why not go enjoy the outdoors, or pay more attention to your family, or do whatever you think is more productive than bitch and moan about rate hikes and how unfair life is because your cable bill went up and there is nothing you can do. | |
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See 8 replies to this post | |
| | Good Prices Here.
see if they show up.. | |
| | | price hikes a lot of cable companies increased prices these past few months. whats up with that? | |
|  MikePremium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
 ·Verizon FiOS
Host:
W.O.W.
FairPoint
World of Warcraft
Alltel Axcess
Site Tools
| corruption at it's finest "Pittsburgh City Council members, led by Bob O'Connor, complained about the rate increases yesterday and approved a nonbinding resolution opposing them, though the city has no power to stop the price hikes."
The same stupid assholes which approved a contract extension are now complaining that they suck. Oh wait, that's because AT&T transferred 'funds' ignoring the people saying that we do not want AT&T....
--
root sounds cooler than administrator anyhow
What this country needs is a good five dollar plasma weapon. | |
| lesopp
join:2001-06-27
Land O Lakes, FL | Bundle this!!! Tell them you don't believe in bundling and pay them in unrolled pennies. | |
| | |  not AT&T!
| |
| | | EXTORTION I have been posting these comments all over Broadband Reports so I guess I will post them here.
Sometime in February at the start of the next quarter (I think it's the 14th, yeah valentines day, sucks right?) Comcast will OFFICIALLY take over AT&T. New pricing plans will become effective and all ATTBI email addresses will be switched over to Comcast.net addresses.
There will also be an increase in internet service for those who DO NOT have basic TV service with the new Comcast. Right now HSI (High Speed Internet) costs around $45 per month but will increase to around $59.
Now this is just plain outright extortion people. I don't want to hear about bundling, or combined services are any of those SUPPOSEDLY marketing specials.
If NEW customer signing up for service want to take advantage of a special offer or "bundled" service then that's fine. BUT!!! For EXISTING customers who may have a satellite dish or no TV service at all for whatever reason to have to pay more is just total nonsense and shear extortion.
Why should a customer be FORCED to pay more for a service that they DON'T have????
Remember on Hill Street Blues where the local mob boss extorted money from the store owners along the street because they used the city trash service instead of "his boys" service. Clear cut EXTORTION folks. Being made to pay for a service you don't have.
Now that's crap. And no I don't work for AT&T anymore in fact I used to be RhythmsGuy but we all know that story right.
The bible talks about the "The Beast Rising From The East". Well, here it comes folks. | |
| | | | Re: EXTORTION When I moved to L.A. 2 years ago I joined with RoadRunner who was bought out by MediaOne who was bought out by ATTBI and is now being bought out by Comcast. I grudginly put up with the hassles of email changes etc., but there's no way in hell I'm going to comply with a $14/mo. extortion attempt for the same exact service. I'm switching to a DSL provider that is in no way connected to Comcast. | |
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| | A Further Note I don't mind paying a FEW more dollars a month increase in service. Hell everything goes up a bit from time to time, a loaf of bread, the price of a new car, the phone bill...
But I don't think forcing people to pay EXTRA for a service they don't have (TV in this case) is right. | |
| | | Yet Again... Since the merger, my speeds have increased by +33%, even though Comcast has really done nothing to my local AT&T Broadband just yet. Actually since I hooked up a Linksys router my speeds seem to be much faster, for some odd reason.
Now we have to face yet another e-mail change. The transition for me from mediaone.com to attbi.com wasn't a big deal for me. The real problem are users that have matching names that already exist on comcast.com, THAT is always a headache. At least my bill hasn't gone up yet. ($45.95 plus another $40 for cable TV)
But I can understand the switch, since people will assume ATTbi is still run by AT&T can call the wrong people for customer service. Yes people will do that. People already call AT&T cable, when they have problems with broadband. I think it would be very confusing if they didn't switch our e-mail address to comcast.com, but at the same time I wish they didn't really have to.
Oh well, it's better than having to switch our e-mail address to @AOL.COM. If that happened I wold have dumped my cable modem in a heart beat. | |
|
| Posted elsewhere, but on topic
With all this in mind, how in God's name can you justify 2 price increases in less than a year, bringing my bill from $35.95 per month, to $57.95 per month!!! This is almost a 65% (?!?) increase. This is being done for one reason, and one reason only. Comcast desperately needs to recover the estimated 250,000 or so customers that AT&T is said to have lost over the past year, in order to justify the merger to their stockholders. What better way, than to force people that don't have or want your cable TV service to take it, or else risk paying outlandish penalties if they don't? The bundling argument is a ruse, by the way; those people who DO already have internet AND cable telephone service ARE NOT ELIGIBLE for the discount anymore. In fact, they lose their current 4 dollar discount, AND still need some sort of TV add-on, or they pay an extortion fee on 15 bucks a month, making their total boost 19.00 a month. It's cable TV that counts to Comcast, so they can artificially pad their "subscriber" base, parade those inflated numbers to the stockholders and say, "Wow! Look how many people we have picked up in one month! We are really making lots of money!", while at the same time, telling advertisers they need to pay higher rates, due to the increased viewership.
I appreciate the efforts by some folks here to troll in a discussion where they have absolutely nothing to bring to, however, this mess is going on across the country, for two reasons; one, this is what government-authorized monopolies do, because they can; and two, because our beloved congress-critters, in their ultimate wisdom, decided that they would leave the cable companies a large loophole to make money from their customers, by explicitly NOT including internet service (via cable) as being federally regulated. (See the Telecommunications Act of 1996.)
One would do well to read up on what they are talking about, so you might actually sound like you know something. Try this link out for size, and then try to come back here and continue being a cable industry apologist. There is no way you can - trust me.
»www.consumersunion.org/telecom/l···c201.htm
These cable people make me sick. Their greed is exceeded only by their arrogance and stupidity.
-Bob Salwasser
[text was edited by author 2003-01-18 12:27:01] | |
| | | Lies and Deceit regularly practiced... I received the same letter everyone else did and I was upset at first. Now I'm furious.
About 2.5-3 years ago, I signed up for AT&T Broadband for $49.95/month. It took 3 weeks to get someone to install it, but when I got connected I was getting well over 3000kbps downloads and 768kbps uploads. EXCELLENT! At one point - SuperBowl Sunday, 2002 to be exact - someone in my apartment complex STOLE my cable line! This person had broken the cable node open (in the garage) and removed all the ID tags from the lines running to different apartments.
I called AT&T and told them that my cable was out, they tested my line and said I was still connected yet I still had no signal. I asked him if it was possible that someone had stolen my line, he said it was impossible. After 2 weeks and 3 AT&T technicians, AT&T dispatched an outside contractor from New Age Cable to hook it up. I followed him into the garage and within 10 minutes he was able to reconnect my line. He said it was obvious someone had tampered with the node (the lock was broken and lines were cut).
I reported the whole incident to AT&T and spoke with a representative who thanked me for reporting the incident and said that I would receive 1 month of free service in addition to the 2 week out-of-service credit. I wrote down his name and the name of his supervisor, but failed to get their "Customer Service ID Numbers". When the bill came, there were no credits on my account. I called and they said it would probably be on my next bill. (Probably?) The next month comes, I still have no credit, I call CS and ask them what hell is going on and she asks me who I talked to. I quickly tell them and then she asks, "Do you have their CS ID numbers?" "They never gave it to me, I didn't know I had to ask!" She says, "Without the CS ID number, there is nothing we can do for you." *CLICK*
I searched out other ISPs and found a few decent ones, but the max DL speed I could get was 1500kbps, so I went back to AT&T in the fall. All was going well until I tested my new line, only to receive about 1600kbps download and 300kbps upload. WTF? I called and found out that the original speed they offered 6 months prior was now $85/month. Oh well, what can I do?
Today I called AT&T to complain and get an explanation of the new rates. The first gentleman I talked to had nothing to offer me, so he transfered me to the Cable TV section. The woman there (Marcella) listened to complaint and then put me hold only to come back with the following response:
"I just spoke with another employee and because you are only an AT&T Broadband Internet customer and have no other services through us, you can disregard the letter. Just throw it away, your rates will not change."
Not believing her I asked for her ID number, she said that she didn't have one and that no one in the Cable TV department has one. Hmm... I asked her to transfer me to the Cable Internet department department to verify the story.
Upon being transferred to Melinda in Cable Internet, I told her the story Marcella had fed me and she said that my rates WOULD change. I asked to speak with her supervisor (Andrea - RJ9) and she said there was nothing she could do for me except give me the address for complaints and log my situation into the computer (so future customer service people can give me the run-around?). I asked her to transfer me back to the Cable TV supervisor and she said she couldn't, she could only transfer me to the department.
Fine.
I ask to speak with the supervisor as soon as I connect and she asks for my name and phone number, I refuse and tell her to connect me immediately (but politely). She then informs me that there will be a wait and I insist that I will hold. She takes me off hold after a few minutes and says her supervisor is still on the phone. I ask if it would be OK for the supervisor to contact me. She says yes and as soon as she is about to get my information, I am mysteriously disconnected.
That leads me to where I am now, typing this message. It would seem that AT&T (now Comcast) follows the best business model - plausible ignorance. By not allowing the people who take calls to provide any resources or TRUE customer service, they can drag out the situation to the point where (I'm sure they have a statistic) people just cave in and accept their losses.
Microsoft isn't our problem, Comcast/AT&T/MediaOne is our problem. I wonder why RoadRunner Service can't cross the Mississippi River? Hmm... | |
| | | 3 ISP buyouts and still using the same addresses! The ISP we use at work for dial up accounts has been bought 3 times now. None of the email addresses have ever changed. It kind of makes for a support dilemma when we go to re-setup an account as we have to look up the info for which servers they connect to but we never had to change any of the addresses. Since Comcast has bought ATT's broadband services can't the just buy the ATTBI domain as well?
--Randy
Ps - for those who want to know the ISP started as ais.net then changed to core.com and is now voyager.net but all the old email addresses still work and have never changed. | |
| |
approval from:
pnh102 
| Re: 3 ISP buyouts and still using the same addresses! Personally if it keeps going this way at and it gets hiked to 60 bucks, i'll just go to sbc and pay 80 a month and get 4 megs a second. I don't care about the money as much as i care about the service.
Att as of recent has been poor at best with their service. A increase of that caliber without adequate accomadations of their service, shows their disregard for the consumers.
You want to make att and comcast listen? Its quite easy. Just cancel your service. The less people that are on their service, the less likely their "figures" are going to process.
Btw i was never recieved any mail or email for that matter concerning any of the mergers, or any of the previous updates they were doing to their service. Not to mention this sub par modem they gave me. I mean come on boys, you could have given me a damn motorola for god sakes. But an rca? Thats just a blatent slap in the face.
You corperations need to learn that it is US that pay for your damn companies, and it is the CONSUMERS that can really make the difference. Piss off the hand that feeds you and you will starve.
If even half the consumers switched to sbc or some other broadband service in their area, Watch comcast change their views real quick. If they didn't, they'd go bankrubpt, plain and simple.
I've personally had enough of being pushed around be this sub par corperate monopolies.
We as the consumers need to find instead of having our thumbs in our _____. Write to your senator's, the media. The district manager.
Don't settle for their idiots on their 1-800-automated lines. You want results? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! | |
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