 
Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL
| . Nothing better than waking up in the morning and reading yet another AT&T merger article.
From the article
"Cellphone carrier Sprint Nextel has announced plans to build a competing wireless network and would probably love to get its hands on the frequencies to be surrendered by BellSouth. But there's nothing in AT&T's offer that says it has to sell the frequencies in an open process, so it may well chose a less-threatening buyer."
No offense to Sprint-Nextel but buying a crapful of spectrum is of no good use if you don't use it you jackasses. Now there is rumors you guys plan to merge with ALLTEL, holy shit Gary Forsee, what are you thinking! Your driving me nuts already.
As for the changes of what AT&T would bring it's pretty much the same scenario and nothing much for the customer. If they want to compete in the global market I guess there is nothing else that can be done other than let them merge. | |
|  | 
Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA
| Re: . I'd definitely be surprised if they hand over that spectrum to Sprint, especially considering Forsee's role at Sprint. He bailed on BellSouth when he was the heir apparent to to Ackerman and they weren't happy about it. No love lost there..
Adam | |
| | 
Byesmallisps
@catt.com
| 10 Easy steps to ruling the world. How to rule the world.
Step 1. Whine to the FCC and tell them that Mom and Pop ISPs that PAY to use your network are killing you.
Step 2. Get the FCC to deregulate DSL. Remove the Mom and Pop's ability to offer most services and claim they are removed due to lack of interest.
Step 3. Merge and offer $10 DSL and Naked DSL. Sneak the catch in. Double the wholesale rate to the Mom and Pops. Disallow Naked DSL from being terminated anywhere but AT&T.
Step 4. Attack the last of the Dialup, you know you are doing the public a favor.
Step 5. Begin the cat and mouse game with the Cable Cos. Enter a price war with the other guy. Wear out any 3rd party with your deep pockets.
Step 6. Start snickering.
Step 7. Now that any 3rd party is gone slowly begin to raise prices.
Step 8. Begin Net neutrality. How dare anyone pay for their connection once, they must pay twice.
Step 9. All 3rd party competition is wiped out. But you still have a choice.
Step 10. Start laugh hysterically as you are driven to the bank by your driver. | |
| | | clecssuck
join:2002-01-23
Birmingham, AL
| Re: 10 Easy steps to ruling the world. How about the steps to starting a "phone company"?
1.Decide to re-sell ILEC's services that you buy at a reduced rate forced upon them.
2.Start an aggressive ad campaign telling everyone the ILEC is no good and your service is superior.
3.Don't bother hiring any tech's to test problems, just call the ILECs if anything happens, they will do all the work for you.
4.Complain to the FCC that the ILECs are mean to you. | |
| 
Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL | What to expect? Expect that in 10 years, the government breaks up AT&T. | |
| | sven_kirk3
join:2002-07-23
Mableton, GA | Re: What to expect? Again. | |
| | 
avantare
Go Tribe
join:2000-02-16
Farmington, MI | Absolutely. | |
| | cwh
join:2006-05-14
San Antonio, TX | MOre like expect some bloody battles between the telcos and cables now they are going to offering the same services. Both of the monopolys that these telecoms companies have enjoyed are effectivily dead. | |
| | | 
DataDoc
My avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.
Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC
 ·Suddenlink
| Re: What to expect? said by cwh  :MOre like expect some bloody battles between the telcos and cables now they are going to offering the same services. Both of the monopolys that these telecoms companies have enjoyed are effectivily dead. Agreed, time to create new monopolies.
--
That Snows the Goat & Craig's Crafts | |
| | | | cwh
join:2006-05-14
San Antonio, TX
| Re: What to expect? I think the worst case is duopoly, which is a far better situation than a monopoly.
voice
1. The consumer can keep their phone number between cable and telco service. Wireless and voip is still an option for voice service.
video
2. Cabletv, telcotv, sat tv and free OTA.
internet
3. cable, telco, wireless(wimax soon?)
Most people are going to enjoy plenty of options and stiff competition.
| |
| | | | | nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| Re: What to expect? said by cwh :..... Most people are going to enjoy plenty of options and stiff competition. Dude, what you smokin' - can I get some of that?
Stiff competition? Where is this competition coming from? At best, 99.9% of the U.S. population has a choice of one (1) cable company AND one (1) phone company for broadband. A lot of people (like me) only have a choice of ONE provider, either cable or telco.
This merger WILL DO NOTHING to increase competition and the absolute most likely outcome will be to REDUCE competition.
I think I'm going to start learning chinese so I will be able to surf the web 5-10 years from now - that's who will be ruling the internet, not the U.S. | |
| | | | | |
Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| Re: What to expect? said by nasadude :said by cwh :..... Most people are going to enjoy plenty of options and stiff competition. Dude, what you smokin' - can I get some of that? Stiff competition? Where is this competition coming from? At best, 99.9% of the U.S. population has a choice of one (1) cable company AND one (1) phone company for broadband. A lot of people (like me) only have a choice of ONE provider, either cable or telco. This merger WILL DO NOTHING to increase competition and the absolute most likely outcome will be to REDUCE competition. I think I'm going to start learning chinese so I will be able to surf the web 5-10 years from now - that's who will be ruling the internet, not the U.S. This merger can only INCREASE Competition. It can't REDUCE it because AT&T and BellSouth *NEVER* competed against each other.
--
YourIP.US - Quickly Locate Your IP! | |
| | | | | | | 
DiscardedVet
Premium
join:2005-04-06
Sturgis, SD
| Re: What to expect? said by Rob :This merger can only INCREASE Competition. It can't REDUCE it because AT&T and BellSouth *NEVER* competed against each other.
But who is the competition? Who is going to be able to compete with this once again meganolpoly?
DV
--
Bush is the Prez....Think Patriot Act II....This outspoken dissident....In jail I'll be soon. | |
| | | | | | | | cwh
join:2006-05-14
San Antonio, TX | Re: What to expect? National cable companies. It was noted recently here that comcast was the number #2 isp in the country until the ATT/BS merger. The merger barely puts ATT in 2nd place. | |
| | | | | | | |
Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| said by DiscardedVet :said by Rob :This merger can only INCREASE Competition. It can't REDUCE it because AT&T and BellSouth *NEVER* competed against each other. But who is the competition? Who is going to be able to compete with this once again meganolpoly? DV The Cable co's. Now that AT&T is larger, the cable co's have to compete harder in areas taht AT&T now controls, whereas before, the didn't worry too much.
--
YourIP.US - Quickly Locate Your IP! | |
| | | | | | | | 
LightSpan
Premium
join:2004-02-18
Lexington, KY | Don't forget that cable has more broadband customers than telco's do. | |
| | | | | | | jimbo2150
join:2004-05-10
Youngstown, OH
| said by Rob :said by nasadude :said by cwh :..... Most people are going to enjoy plenty of options and stiff competition. Dude, what you smokin' - can I get some of that? Stiff competition? Where is this competition coming from? At best, 99.9% of the U.S. population has a choice of one (1) cable company AND one (1) phone company for broadband. A lot of people (like me) only have a choice of ONE provider, either cable or telco. This merger WILL DO NOTHING to increase competition and the absolute most likely outcome will be to REDUCE competition. I think I'm going to start learning chinese so I will be able to surf the web 5-10 years from now - that's who will be ruling the internet, not the U.S. This merger can only INCREASE Competition. It can't REDUCE it because AT&T and BellSouth *NEVER* competed against each other. And who is to say competion WILL INCREASE??? I propose a stalemate. I believe that what will happen is the massive cable-co and telcos will snuggle up together, not really offering competion but rather a comfortable agreement of services and price.
This will not help the consumer. If one raises rates that gives the other freedom to do so.
See what the cable/sat are doing? Sat offers generally similar price, typically more HD content, but with the limitation of being disconnected durring inclimate weather. The cable co offers fewer channels (generally) at a similar price. They are using the 'we offer no dropouts' as the only real competative edge.
I have been going over the math of ATTs so-called 'bundled' services and came to the conclusion that the bundled price is typically 20-40 dollars more than buying the services seperately. How does that play out? I should buy more from you and pay more for all the services I get?
If anything this merger will only bring a new player in the field, but will not offer any competion. As of current, their IPTV prices alone cost more than the current cable pr sat company, and you get fewer channels (had they been currently deployed here).
--
- "Techie" Jim | |
| | | | | | | | RJ44
join:2001-10-19
Nashville, TN
| Re: What to expect? said by jimbo2150 :I have been going over the math of ATTs so-called 'bundled' services and came to the conclusion that the bundled price is typically 20-40 dollars more than buying the services seperately. Can you share that math with the rest of the class? Would be very interesting reading. | |
| | | | | | | | | jimbo2150
join:2004-05-10
Youngstown, OH
| Re: What to expect? said by RJ44 :said by jimbo2150 :I have been going over the math of ATTs so-called 'bundled' services and came to the conclusion that the bundled price is typically 20-40 dollars more than buying the services seperately. Can you share that math with the rest of the class? Would be very interesting reading. Oy Vey... I have already posted the math in like 5 other posts... tired. If I get time later I will do it again here.
--
- "Techie" Jim | |
| | | | | | | | | | bogey780
join:2004-03-19
Here | Re: What to expect? I'd like to see the math. I don't see any math in your posting history though. | |
| | | | | | | | | | 
leXicon5
Pelosi, SHUT YOUR Fing Pie Hole
Premium
join:2000-12-27
Saint Louis, MO
| said by jimbo2150 :Oy Vey... I have already posted the math in like 5 other posts... tired. If I get time later I will do it again here. I'm still interested in this equation...when I try to buy individual items...it cost ME more. Bundled, it's is actually cheaper....for ME....I guess in Bizarro World it would cost more if bundled. 
--
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" - David St. Hubbins | |
| | | | | | | 
roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| said by Rob :This merger can only INCREASE Competition. It can't REDUCE it because AT&T and BellSouth *NEVER* competed against each other. AT&T (old TCG, SBC Telecom, etc.) did compete against BellSouth for large business customers in BellSouth states, and AT&T arguably competed against BellSouth in BellSouth states for residential voice in the form of CallVantage. Then there's the legacy LD customer base (people that could choose BSLD or other companies for LD but chose to stay with Ma), etc. to consider...
OTOH, BellSouth never competed against anyone at all outside the nine Southeastern states. IMO, aside from Cingular, the lack of out-of-region network and business is probably the biggest thing that led to BellSouth selling out -- as it was, they were likely handing way too much money to Qwest and other companies for LD and IP transport, they couldn't compete effectively for large multi-state business customers, etc.)
-SC
--
said to me: "it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones"  | |
| | | | | | cwh
join:2006-05-14
San Antonio, TX | Most poeple are going to have choice of going to cable or telco for tv, internet or phone services. They are pushing the same products, just give the telcos a little more time to get their video products out. | |
| | | | | | | krayzie bone
join:2006-09-03
Marietta, GA | Re: What to expect? We've given them 10 years. How much longer should we give them? | |
| | 
Ronnie1055
Premium
join:2004-06-25
Carrollton, TX | What to expect... that everyone who resides in Bell South territory is now officially screwed!!!!
--
My pbase Gallery | |
| | | 
telcotech
join:2002-02-02
at&t
| Re: What to expect? why? that is what people said about the Ameritech merger and the SBC AT&T merger, yet nothing changed for the bad, fiber deployment is up, no layoffs, the price of service has stayed the same or decreased, and we are offered more service options.
What is "screwed!!!!" about that? | |
| 
spy1
Welcome to Amerika
Premium
join:2002-06-24
Charlotte, NC
1 edit | AT&T - BellSouth merger http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/29/news/compa...dex.htm?cnn=yes
"FCC seals $86B AT&T-BellSouth merger
....
The No. 1 telecommunications company's commitments included a promise to maintain net neutrality for at least 30 months..."
============================================
After which (one can safely assume), "net neutrality" goes right out the window unless we all get busy and go here: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?id=535 to make sure that S. 2917, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, gets passed.
Given AT&T's penchant for handing over massive quantities of personal data to the government whenever simply asked for it - and looking at that shiny new "privacy policy" of theirs ( »www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c···B9C1.DTL ) - I simply see nothing good coming of this merger, privacy-wise.
And don't look for the government to even think about breaking up this monopoly again - with such a huge telco in their pocket, the government won't even look at them wrong.
The only thing left is getting the governments' "mandatory ISP logging of your activities" passed in one form or another, and any and all forms of whatever electronic "privacy" we had left are dead meat. Pete
*ACLU link is dead - use this one instead: »action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet and copy/paste the following comment into the field given: "I urge you to IMMEDIATELY press for passage of S. 2917, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act sponsored by by Senators Olympia Snowe and Byron Dorgan." | |
| | 
Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| Re: AT&T - BellSouth merger
Seriously...You didn't really expect the internet would stay free for long once private business got ahold of it and started raping it for all it was worth, did you?
You didn't really think that it would remain a hacker/cracker/phisher/malware heaven forever, did you? I said long ago that there WOULD be steps taken to stop the identity fraud, phishing, spamming and general criminal activity on the net. It is something that, quite simply, HAS TO BE DONE.
It's like anything else: It only takes a few scumbags to ruin it for everyone. And, it has been ruined, make no mistake. It will never come back, or, be like it was in the "good old days" again. As we all know, there are more than a few scumbags out there, as well as crackers looking for exploits. Too bad such intelligent people cant use all that intelligence for good things. But there are allways malcontent, self centered assholes in every endeavor.
Interesting how everyone wants the government to step in now and make sure the net is neutral. Once they have their foot in the door, we will rue the day, count on it. I wonder what the first rapacious tax will be? probably on VOIP for 911 service "surcharges".
Bottom line is that the net is nothing but a huge virtual hard drive full of stuff (like free pages that have been abandoned since 2000 but are still up and wildly out of date)that is, largely, useless and outdated, a bunch of useless blogs and self centeredpolitical sites and commercial sites that you have to pay, and pay, and pay for with monthly ISP access fees (as well as the myriad subscription sites). And dont forget the malware, exploit and phishing sites.
What a wasteland. | |
| | |
spy1
Welcome to Amerika
Premium
join:2002-06-24
Charlotte, NC
| Re: AT&T - BellSouth merger *ACLU link is dead - use this one instead: »action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet and copy/paste the following comment into the field given:
"I urge you to IMMEDIATELY press for passage of S. 2917, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act sponsored by by Senators Olympia Snowe and Byron Dorgan." | |
| | | mwmcclure1
join:2005-02-15
Greer, SC
| The Internet has been free? When? Not in the 15 years I have been online. Perhaps college kids who don't know how to factor their tuition pays for net access or thieves who steal wifi from a neighbor think it is free.
I'm paying $40/month for my broadband and paid $20/month for dialup before that. My employers and customers all have fees associated with network access to the Internet. There is nothing free about it and there never has been.
Fatal Vector complains about private business raping people and then claims we'll rue the day when government steps in. What is he talking about? Someone? One of the two of those has to be involved (right now it is a partnership).
I can assure you that Olympia Snow and Byron Dorgan don't have your best interests at heart. They try to control people for fun and tax businesses and suggest that somehow you won't end up paying that bill. Avoid them where possible and challenge their efforts the best you can.
AT&T's (who is really SBC in disguise, AT&T is long dead)consumption of BellSouth will probably have no lasting benefit for the consumer. Seeing as BellSouth had no real competition in the areas where it operated it is highly unlikely that any real good (or significant bad) will come from the merger. | |
| | | |
Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
1 edit | Re: AT&T - BellSouth merger "I'm paying $40/month for my broadband and paid $20/month for dialup before that. My employers and customers all have fees associated with network access to the Internet. There is nothing free about it and there never has been."
There were and still are sites that offer free space for web pages, such as freewebz, freewebs, angelfire, geocities, etc. These were what I was referring to.
"Fatal Vector complains about private business raping people and then claims we'll rue the day when government steps in. What is he talking about? Someone? One of the two of those has to be involved (right now it is a partnership)."
You're kidding me, right? You didn't understand what I said? In a ststement, not a complaint.
"AT&T's (who is really SBC in disguise, AT&T is long dead)"
AT&T was far from "long dead" when it was gobbled up by SBC. Just why is it, do you think, that they promptly took on the AT&T name?
It never ceases to amaze me how one can say something perfectly innocuous or clear here and STILL have someone with a total brain fart pop up. | |
| | | | |
See 6 replies to this post | |
| |
mmmbop
@optonline.net
| said by Fatal Vector :You didn't really think that it would remain a hacker/cracker/phisher/malware heaven forever, did you? I said long ago that there WOULD be steps taken to stop the identity fraud, phishing, spamming and general criminal activity on the net. It is something that, quite simply, HAS TO BE DONE. Nothing has to be done, the internet is fine the way it is. Even the hackers, crackers, phishers, malwares pay to connect to the internet, and what they do with their paid expense is up to them and if they get caught they will be held accountable for their actions. If your stupid enough to not have protection against these people, then it is your fault.
said by Fatal Vector :Seriously...You didn't really expect the internet would stay free for long once private business got ahold of it and started raping it for all it was worth, did you? It's not free, everyone pays to connect to the internet. Whether it's a web hosting company, an ISP, a Tier 2 network provider, or your average consumer (that pays 50x more per mb than the parties mentioned before). I don't think the internet is a wasteland, whatever is put on there is on there because someone is paying the bandwidth bill so it stays. You wouldn't happen to be affiliated with China's internet policy laws, would you?
| |
| | | |
Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
2 edits | Re: AT&T - BellSouth merger "It's not free, everyone pays to connect to the internet"
That's not what I was referring to. I was referring to being able to do what you wanted without endless restrictions, advertising, etc, never mind the inevitable government boot on our necks because of phishers, crackers, malware pushers, identity theves, etc.
Jeez...Doesnt ANYONE know how to make distinctions based on context and how words are used? They just dont teach much of anything in the screwels today, do they?
"I don't think the internet is a wasteland, whatever is put on there is on there because someone is paying the bandwidth bill so it stays. You wouldn't happen to be affiliated with China's internet policy laws, would you?"
If you take the time and look, you will find endless pages that haven't been updated in years, but are still up even though they have obviously been abandoned and are wildly out of date and useless.
Just WHO then, is paying for them? Since many of them are on free sites? You know...The ones that gave you a free page on their server. Like Freewebs, Freewebz, angelfire, etc...?
And, just what part of the concept that your rights to do whatever the hell you want stop where my rights to be secure and free of criminal activity begins dont you understand?
You are actually saying that criminal activity that affects all of us is just peachy because the criminals paid for their connection? I think maybe it would be wise for you to rethink your position.
And, the bit about china was kinda stupid, dont you think? | |
| | mjcrocket
Mjc
join:2000-12-02
Abingdon, MD
| said by spy1 :*ACLU link is dead - use this one instead: » action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet and copy/paste the following comment into the field given: "I urge you to IMMEDIATELY press for passage of S. 2917, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act sponsored by by Senators Olympia Snowe and Byron Dorgan." This legislation no longer exists. All legislation that is not acted on when congress adjourns automatically dies. This was pending legislation of the 109th Congress.
For anything to happen with this legislation in 110th Congress (which is not yet in session); the proposed legislation will have to be reintroduced as a new bill and at that time will be given a new number. If no one reintroduces this legislation it is a nonevent. That is why the ACLU link no longer works.
Unfortunately since there is no pending legislation of any kind pending in the 110th Congress, contacting your congress person with the suggested message is a total waste of time! If anything it will mark you as a person who does not know what they are talking about. | |
| pcolaboyz048
join:2004-06-19
Pensacola, FL | Prices Since AT&T's prices on DSL lines were cheaper than bellsouth, does that mean that us bellsouth customer's will get lower prices? I doubt it. | |
| |
Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| Re: Prices
Bellsouth/AT&T's biggest problem is restoring service and rebuilding in areas ravaged by Katrina. Bellsouth was overwhelmed by the sheer destruction where AT&T is much healthier and will be much more active in doing so. As far as DSL it stands to reason that, since the same price is available service region wide, former Bellsouth customers will see the same prices eventually. | |
|
AGBell
@cox.net
| Fiber to the ? I'm wondering what the new plan is/will be for ADSL2 or UVerse or Homezone or whatever their latest name is for video via copper? Will they stay with copper? What about the BellSouth fiber deployment (if there is one) plan?
For customers in BellSouth territory I don't expect much change. BellSouth employees are still going to running the show day to day. | |
| | jimbo2150
join:2004-05-10
Youngstown, OH
| Re: Fiber to the ? said by AGBell :
I'm wondering what the new plan is/will be for ADSL2 or UVerse or Homezone or whatever their latest name is for video via copper? Will they stay with copper? What about the BellSouth fiber deployment (if there is one) plan?
For customers in BellSouth territory I don't expect much change. BellSouth employees are still going to running the show day to day.
They (ATT) have already announced time and time again that they will stick with FTTN (Fiber to the Node) rather than to the house like Verizon.
As for BellSouth, since it is now ATT territory, they will be included in their FTTN plan. Since BellSouth had a much more agressive FTTN buildout to begin with it would stand to reason that ATT will probably put a lot of BellSouth areas at the top of the list to get their deployment (since little would have to be done to upgrade).
--
- "Techie" Jim | |
| | |
AGBell
@cox.net
| Re: Fiber to the ? "Since BelllSouth had a much more agressive FTTN buildout to begin with"
Can you provide some details? I live and work in a metro area (pop. 500,000) served by BellSouth. They have done little with FTTN in this state with the exception of running fiber to schools. Do you have official information from BellSouth that gives specific targets with dates for any of the southern states (excluding Georgia)? | |
| | | | bogey780
join:2004-03-19
Here | Re: Fiber to the ? 'They have done little with FTTN in this state'
Not quite. Louisiana is as wired as any other state. Though they do have less FTTC than Florida or Georgia.
AT&T does not release deployment data in advance. | |
| 
viperpa33s
Why Me?
Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL
·Bright House
| Only change I see The only change I see is layoffs. How many people they will layoff is another question. AT&T is going to want big cost savings due to the incentives that were given to approve the merger.
Besides all the incentives are temporary anyways. As far as I can see, they are not bringing anything significant to the table. About the only thing that will happen is AT&T will be able to expand the services they already have.
If AT&T offered naked DSL at 6mb speeds, they I would say they are doing something significant. If AT&T offered 6mb DSL to everyone in there coverage area instead of 80%, then I would say that is significant. | |
| |
telcotech
join:2002-02-02
at&t
| Re: Only change I see the incentives were minimal, they were in the process of doing them anyway, why would they lay anyone off? if they were going to lay anyone off they would have done it with the AT&T merger, there were many departments that overlapped, they waited and enough people retired before they needed to lay anyone off.
Bellsouth is established, look at the management shifts, it will be treated as Ameritech was, they merge certain area's and leave the rest alone. They are going to call it something like AT&T Southeast or something like that, like they call the Ameritech region AT&T Midwest, each region has it's own management and all the regions offer the same services. When they merged Ameritech, they took some of the systems we used and adopted them corporate wide, some of the systems were the same in both companies and others were merged from SBC. It was nothing drastic. | |
| |
viperpa33s
Why Me?
Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL
·Bright House
| My brother worked at AT&T for 10 years. When SBC bought AT&T, AT&T said goodbye to him and many other people where he worked. So you can't say they won't layoff anyone cause they will if it's in there best interests.
Luckily my brother was able to get a job with Lucent which was just bought out recently. Hopefully he will be able to keep his job this time. | |
| Jusmrg
join:2004-06-04
Mcadenville, NC | Cingular Customers How is this going to affect cingular customers? It says Bellsouth and Cingular are Jonining the new AT&T. | |
| | 
Corona
It's cool, I'm takin it back
Premium
join:2000-03-14
Aubrey, TX | Re: Cingular Customers Cingular is 60% AT&T owned, 40% BellSouth owned prior to the merger. With AT&T now running BellSouth, AT&T now owns 100% of Cingular.
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-Corona | |
| | | 
RIRWIN1983
join:2005-08-30
Columbus, OH | Re: Cingular Customers And they will adopt the at&t name for cingular | |
| willmarth2
join:2003-08-15
Russellville, AL | What a bellsouth tech told me. He fixed our line. He said if the deal goes through "anyone who wants dsl can get before 2008'. I don't know if he meant just around here or not. | |
| |
telcotech
join:2002-02-02
at&t | Re: What a bellsouth tech told me. as part of the concessions, at&t agreed to provide 100% of its customers with high speed data by the end of 2007. | |
| | | willmarth2
join:2003-08-15
Russellville, AL | Re: What a bellsouth tech told me. That sounds great! I am glad to hear it from a second source. Finally I will be able to do online gaming. | |
|
telcotech
join:2002-02-02
at&t
| Here's some thoughts 1. Competition
The telco act divided the bell system up, most notably to promote competition and break up a monopoly. Supposedly in the consumers best interests.
It broke the company up, that is about all it did.
As for competition, it created the CLEC or Competitive Local exchange carrier, and gave the state regulatory officials the power to determine how much the ILEC, Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier, could charge the CLEC. Most states mandated that the ILECs had to give CLECs a deep discount, up to 70%. The ILECs could make 30% to cover maintenance of the line and costs associated with providing the service. There were thousands of CLECs, you could be a CLEC just by filling out some paperwork and sitting behind a computer in your living room. All the CLEC's do is buy service from an ILEC and resell it to a customer, they are merely a billing agent. The dialtone is furnished by an ILEC regardless of who you buy it from. No CLEC could afford to wire a community in order to compete with an ILEC. Most have no customer support, they have no one to go to your house and fix a jack, install a new jack or fix anything beyond the NID, Network Interface Device, on the outside of your house. Although they were allowed to bundle Long distance with their service and the ILEC's could not, this was actually disadvantageous to the consumer, the CLEC's had little or no customer support, charged as much or more than the ILEC's and were allowed to bundle their long distance. Now, you can get unlimited long distance for $30 a month, from an ILEC, if the ILEC's could bundle their services all along you would have had cheaper long distance a long time ago. From what I see, the CLEC's target mostly people who can not get service from an ILEC, usually due to credit or unpaid bills. These people usually pay more from the CLEC than they would from an ILEC since they are a greater risk and they have no other choice but to go with a CLEC.
The real competition is on the horizon, the cable companies have scalded their customers for several decades with high prices and sad service. now they are in for a run for their money. By allowing the mergers, the government has allowed the telco's to compete on a level basis with a worthy competitor, the cable companies. They have done what no CLEC was capable of doing, they wired the communities. Now it is going to be a matter of who can provide the consumer with the best services for the best price. The consumers will be the winners now and this is competition.
2. Services
AT&T agreed to provide 100% of its customers with broadband service by the end of 2007. Obviously they intend on spending some serious cash in the best interests of their customers.
You need to look at the differences between the cable companies and the telcos. The cable companies never originally designed their systems to provide anything more then video and the telcos didn't design their systems to provide anything more than voice and data communication. Now you have cable companies adding data and voice services and telcos adding video. You have two different technologies at work here trying to offer the same services. You must make a decision as to what is most important to you when choosing between these two technologies. cable is proven for video and the telcos are proven with voice and data. It's a no brainer as to which provider is best at providing which services.
Comcast offers DTS, Digital Telephone service in my area, I work for a telco and do atleast 5 winbacks a week. A winback is where someone went from us to comcast and it didn't work so they come back to us. When comcast offers DTS, the customer's number is ported to the comcast equipment and comcast becomes their service provider, they provide the service from their softswitch in their cable TV office to the customer over their infrastructure, a form of VOIP. The main problem I hear about is dropped calls and incompatible equipment. The main reason I hear that people originally went to comcast was either price or a bundled deal generally in area's that we did not have DSL deployed in yet. In any case, nothing beats the old reliable POTS, Plain Old Telephone Service, line when you depend on telephone service, only available from you local ILEC.
3. Fiber vs Copper
Copper is the core of the telephone business. It is in place,it has a proven track record and it simply works. There are 2 fiber technologies, FTTP, Fiber To The Prem, which extends fiber all the way to the house and FTTN, Fiber To The Node, which extends fiber to remote terminals in subdivisions allowing high speed data equipment to be moved closer to the end user thus making it available to more customers. High speed data, DSL, is limited by the subscribers distance from the equipment. FTTP would allow the most bandwidth allowing the fastest speed and more services, but is also the most costly at this point due to the equipment involved. it is a good option for new subdivisions. FTTN is the only practical way to get service to the existing customers, the copper is already there and deployment is cheaper. More people will be able to get DSL in a shorter time frame by using the existing infrastructure with FTTN.
4. The Merger
This merger will benefit the consumers, look at it this way, when you go to Sams Club and purchase in bulk, you get a better deal than you do buying the same item at the convenience store down the street. Why, Sam simply purchases in a much higher volume so they get a larger discount and since they sell at a much larger volume can pass the savings on to the purchaser. Look at your telephone bills, how much have they increased or decreased over the last 10 years compared to your cable bill? I had cable, the bills went up every year, I dropped cable and went to Dish, the bill has been the same for several years, my telephone service is reliable and my DSL is faster than the neighbors cable broadband and doesn't go out several times a month and every time it rains and I have paid the same or less every year for my voice data and video.
5. The Future
I believe the future will see strong integration with wireless, high speed data, voice and video. The winners will be those that can combine all of the services seamlessly at the most reasonable price with the best customer service. Fiber will be the way to go and the phase out of the telco's switch equipment for soft switch VOIP is on the horizon. But, the telco's will wait for a reliable VOIP solution before deploying it in order to maintain their level of service and customer satisfaction.
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digitalfreak
join:2005-12-09
49533
| Re: Here's some thoughts said by telcotech :2. Services AT&T agreed to provide 100% of its customers with broadband service by the end of 2007. Obviously they intend on spending some serious cash in the best interests of their customers. I just don't see how this is possible, unless they really start laying the fiber. There are tens of thousands of AT&T customers who live out in BFE. I'm thinking they'll just partner with some satellite company like Wildblue and say "see, 100% of our customers have broadband". What a joke. | |
| short09
join:2006-07-21 | why does the goverment allow these monolopies to form again after 20 years? i fear that in time well go back to a giant monolopy. isnt there regulations in place to disallow a megaopoly like at&t from acquiring companies in competition areas | |
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ATT Ruse
@dslextreme.com | He're is AT&Ts plan Enter the TV market.
Use the profits from Cingular to lean on the Cable Cos.
Weaken Cable Cos
Raise prices. | |
| | tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| Re: He're is AT&Ts plan Or here's my list of predictions:
lose POTS customers in droves.
lose wireless customers in droves (churn).
file the largest telcom bankruptcy in history.
churn customers to the competition permanently from weak IPTV, broadband speeds and lackluster deployment.
go out of business.
at&t memorabilia becomes collectors items.
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AT&T will realize (just like verizon) sooner or later they will have to invest heavily in providing adequate bandwidth all the way to the home and higher symmetrical rates on a future-proof network. AT&T can't rely on brand name alone to keep its customers.. if it deploys an inferior network and it translated to poor end-customer experience.. they will not have customers to speak of that won't even justify deployments which they claim are 1/4th what fttp spends to deploy. AT&T is betting that cable companies won't eat their lunch with docsis 2.0/3.0 in the coming years.. I'd be willing to bet money that they will (in the ares where they have or will deploy docsis 2.0/3.0 in 2007/2008).
Verizon kept upgrading local central offices (primarily in the northeast) with and to fiber migrating old switching systems to soft switches, etc and the last piece of the puzzle was to deploy fiber to the home. AT&T has networks that probably are heavily antiquated copper, load coils, etc.. this stuff needs to be retired and must work on a plan to change this to fiber sooner rather than later. | |
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atuarre
Here come the drums
Premium
join:2004-02-14
Lake Charles, LA
clubs: | RE: Bellsouth/ATT Merger Is F Duane Ackerman going to stay with the company, or is he retiring?
Mergers usually bring layoffs. I wonder what the number of layoffs will be. | |
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lamocuts
@verizon.net | Re: RE: Bellsouth/ATT Merger enough to pay for the corporate parachute and then some | |
| milkman82
join:2006-06-19
North Olmsted, OH
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| ohhhhh noooooooooo big evil business we are all going..... I would just like to say ohhhh yes big evil scary companies merge together. oooooo makes me shake all over, yes and company that is big why that = EVIIILLLLL! BAD BAD BIG COMPANY wipe out all poor little business people.
Microsoft BAD
LINUX GOOD
WALMART BAD
Little over priced store GOOOD
Best Buy BAD
Little over priced computer store GOOD
Yahoo bad
Google good
Give it a rest already, just because a company is huge does not always mean it's a bad thing.
I choose ATT DSL because I am getting it for the rate of $14.95
If I went with a local small ISP like APK the price is $40.00 for the same speed.
So, if I get a company that can bring same service for a substantially lower price then it's competitors; I will happily welcome that company to my neighborhood!
But oohhhhh wait big evil company ooohhhh noooooo they will wipe out little overly priced mom pop shop that is so good and heavenly! Then once big bad company takes over world we will bow its its big evil power and be forever In-slaved!
GIVE IT A REST!
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AT&T BellSouth Merger