 |
 | 
N3OGH
It's Biden Vs. the Biscuit. Sarah's hot
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs | Re: Boneheads! Once again AT&T steps on it's dick.
Why am I not surprised???
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… | |
|
| | 
inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK
 ·Cingular Wireless
| Re: Boneheads! said by N3OGH  :Once again AT&T steps on it's dick. that is impossible. they stepped on something, but it wasn't their dick....that would be giving them too much credit. | |
|
| |
| | 
Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
Albany, NY
| Re: Boneheads! But if one person has high speed in that zip code then that means that everyone in that zip code has high speed! Or are you calling the FCC's methodology for measuring broadband penetration incorrect?  | |
|
| | | 
TnDialup
@bellsouth.net
| Re: Boneheads! said by Jason Levine :But if one person has high speed in that zip code then that means that everyone in that zip code has high speed! Or are you calling the FCC's methodology for measuring broadband penetration incorrect? I don't know if I'd call their methodology incorrect, but it's at least unrealistic. My zip code is covered for DSL except on my road, where Bellsouth/AT&T tells me that the wiring is too old to support the service, and it'll probably be YEARS before that changes, if ever. So for the time being, DSL is only available to houses more than 1/4 mile south of my address.
Of course, when I moved here in 1999, they told me that I'd have DSL with 6 months. I stopped holding my breath a long time ago.....  | |
|
| | | |
| | | | bicker
join:2007-05-10
Burlington, MA
| Re: Boneheads! That's really the best solution -- all around. Remember that offering a service is a two-way street, and you always have the power to do without or get what you want somewhere else, if someone is willing to offer it to you. If no one is, then what you're asking for isn't reasonable to expect anyway. | |
|
| 
gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
 ·Cruzio Internet
| said by kalphearion :Just another boneheaded move from a boneheaded company. I can see why ATT would do this to get people to convert from Dial Up to DSL, but why screw the people whose only form of internet connection is Dial up? Yep, this reminds me of when they dropped all thier long distance customer contracts, boneheads.
A bean counter must have had a proposal that saves them 20c.
Does this mean they can get naked dial-u:p now? j/k
--
‘Do ye, quieting in your bosoms your strong hearts,
Who of many good things have had your fill even to surfeit,
With what is moderate nourish your mighty desire; for neither will
We yield, nor shall you have all else as you wish.’
Solon | |
|
| openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
·AT&T Southeast
 ·Mediacom
| said by kalphearion :but why screw the people whose only form of internet connection is Dial up? AT&T isn't the only dial-up ISP. When consumers begin voting with their wallets instead of whining, then everyone wins. | |
|
| | 
MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium
join:2005-03-14
League City, TX
clubs: | Re: Boneheads! I have to agree you could always get dial-up with another comapny. Just flip them the bird on the way out.
--
Team Discovery-Join the fight | |
|
| | | 
JokerCPoC
join:2005-11-21
Yermo, CA
·Verizon west (ex G..
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Boneheads! said by MysticGogeta :I have to agree you could always get dial-up with another company. Just flip them the bird on the way out. I can think of three Dial-up ISPs right off the bat, PeoplePC, NetZero and AOL.
--
(25.92GHz crunching for SETI with the PC Perspective Killer Frogs) | |
|
| | | | 
Siryak
join:2005-11-26
 ·WildBlue
| Re: Boneheads! said by JokerCPoC :said by MysticGogeta :I have to agree you could always get dial-up with another company. Just flip them the bird on the way out. I can think of three Dial-up ISPs right off the bat, PeoplePC, NetZero and AOL. Barf! Please tell me you did not just say AOL!!! aka AOhelL Also kind of defeats to purpose to switch to a provide that cost even more... | |
|
| | | | |
MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium
join:2005-03-14
League City, TX
clubs: | Re: Boneheads! NetZero and PeoplePC are good. I used to have a local one called EveryOnes Internet they were great for 10 bucks a month.
--
Team Discovery-Join the fight | |
|
| | bicker
join:2007-05-10
Burlington, MA
| said by openbox9 :said by kalphearion :but why screw the people whose only form of internet connection is Dial up? AT&T isn't the only dial-up ISP. When consumers begin voting with their wallets instead of whining, then everyone wins. Including AT&T, and I think that's something that some folks don't get: All customers aren't always worth the same, and often the level of the customers' technology indicates how profitable servicing that customer is. A year or two ago, one of the major cellular telephone companies boosted prices significantly for their customers using old technology telephones. This was the right move for them: It prompted those customers to find another service provider, so that cellular telephone company no longer had to deal with the overhead of so many low-margin customers.
People often overestimate the importance of satisfying every customer. Businesses have to focus on their #1 priority, which is satisfying the demands of their owners, and sometimes that means picking which customers they want to serve. There are no sacred cows. | |
|
| | | 
NwkEWR
John McCain for President
Premium
join:2002-04-10
Newark, NJ
·Optimum Online
 ·Vonage
·AT&T Yahoo
edit:
November 27th, @06:32PM
| Re: Boneheads! said by bicker :said by openbox9 :said by kalphearion :but why screw the people whose only form of internet connection is Dial up? AT&T isn't the only dial-up ISP. When consumers begin voting with their wallets instead of whining, then everyone wins. Including AT&T, and I think that's something that some folks don't get: All customers aren't always worth the same, and often the level of the customers' technology indicates how profitable servicing that customer is. A year or two ago, one of the major cellular telephone companies boosted prices significantly for their customers using old technology telephones. This was the right move for them: It prompted those customers to find another service provider, so that cellular telephone company no longer had to deal with the overhead of so many low-margin customers. People often overestimate the importance of satisfying every customer. Businesses have to focus on their #1 priority, which is satisfying the demands of their owners, and sometimes that means picking which customers they want to serve. There are no sacred cows. You're correct bicker, in my case I received the notification of the price increase on 29th October, curiously though, my rate is being increased by just $1.00, I keep the account as a holdover from the Prodigy era (Early 1990s) and use it primarily (via OOL broadband) for contents and eMail and secondarily as a backup in case my Optimum Online broadband goes down.
--
BEWARE: "We can't expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism." - Nikita Khrushchev - | |
|
| | | | EPROM
join:2007-07-28
·voip.com
·Cox HSI
| Re: Boneheads! If you are worried about losing emails there is a site you can redirect dead accounts to new ones and email all contacts.
»ecoa.returnpath.net
I have used this for years. Works great.  | |
|
| |
| | 
T1 Rocky
join:2002-11-15
Dallas, TX
 ·tw telecom
·ygnitionnet
| Re: Boneheads! The local ISP? AT&T put them out of business with dsl 5 years ago. In 5 years I will bet anything that dsl will be twice as expensive, and I bet that the cable companies will be bought for pennies on the dollar in the next 3 years by the telcos. The monopoly will be reinstated, the lobbyists will make sure of it. | |
|
| | |
gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
·Cruzio Internet
| Re: Boneheads! said by T1 Rocky :The local ISP? AT&T put them out of business with dsl 5 years ago. In 5 years I will bet anything that dsl will be twice as expensive, and I bet that the cable companies will be bought for pennies on the dollar in the next 3 years by the telcos. The monopoly will be reinstated, the lobbyists will make sure of it. My local ISP survived till they were able to resell Att circuits, they probly have more dial-up customers than DSL.
My account comes with nationwide dial-up backup.
--
‘Do ye, quieting in your bosoms your strong hearts,
Who of many good things have had your fill even to surfeit,
With what is moderate nourish your mighty desire; for neither will
We yield, nor shall you have all else as you wish.’
Solon | |
|
| | | |
T1 Rocky
join:2002-11-15
Dallas, TX
·tw telecom
·ygnitionnet
| Re: Boneheads! Kudos to them for surviving and kudos to you for supporting them. The telcos allow ISP's to sell their dsl service but they charge more for the line and going through an outside ISP then if you went with them for both the line and the ISP. In other words, it's $45 to get dsl with ISP service through AT&T/Verizon. But it's $50 to get just the dsl line through AT&T/Verizon. Therefore,if the ISP wants to compete on price, they have to pay all of their dsl customers $5 per month, hence the reason most of the local ISP's went out of business.
If people would have recognized and supported their local ISP's 5 years ago, then AT&T wouldn't have been able to make this move now. But you can't fault the consumer for saving a dime in the short term. But the few remaining dial up users are going to pay for those savings 5 years ago now - or upgrade to dsl. And there is no $9 dsl as advertised in the commercials. That rate only applies if you get phone service and at least 3 calling plans and the absolute minimum you can get out paying for AT&T dsl is $55 per month. | |
|
|
gouged
@blutmagie.de
| I live in the "Bellsouth" AT&T region and the letter I got from AT&T said my Bellsouth/AT&T dial-up would increase from $14.95 to $22.95 per month starting December 8th, 2007. With the almost $30.00 with taxes I pay for the land line I *never* use, that is over fifty dollars for dial-up.
I canceled and opened a cheaper dial-up. I'm waiting for the mandatory $19.95 stand alone 768kbps with a free/supplied modem that will be offered about mid January 2008 (one year after the AT&T purchase of Bellsouth). That is according to the agreement/settlement the FCC made with AT&T for the purchase of Bellsouth.
I see this as a move to push current dial-up customers to DSL before the mandatory $19.95 kicks in. When I called they offered me 768kbps for $19.95 plus a $15.00 line charge with a $10.00 rebate making it $24.95 total.
| |
|
| | horcion
join:2008-01-01
| Re: Boneheads! Gouged,
I ordered, with the same date of January 2008, have you gotten any further correspondence? I have not. I'm in the McCalla Area, off eastern Valley Road, there is DSL less than a mile in each direction, but I'm on a road of old houses.
Funny thing. When I check for availability with the old line that was existing when we moved in, it comes up "Service Unavailable". However, the line we had added, so we could pay $40+ for 48kbps, is the line we got our order in with.
I wonder, if I told AT&T I needed 50 lines run to my house, would things change in my area. LOL. At times I've been willing to pay them as much as $500 to get DSL on my street.
How many phone lines could I get hooked up and stop after 1 month for that much? hmmm | |
|
swhitney2003
quack.
Premium
join:2003-06-13
Weare, NH | other isps Aren't there many other isps that provide dialup for ~$10/mo that this guy could switch to? | |
|
| bogey780
join:2004-03-19
Covington, LA | Re: other isps Seems like they're trying to get them to upgrade or move. Maybe they saw how AOL still had customers despite their price and figured they'd see if they could match it. heh. | |
|
| |
| |
anonme
@verizon.net | Re: other isps Why use isp's email service at all? gmail is free and gives pop3 access. | |
|
| |
| | |
MrMaster
What If
Premium
join:2000-12-16
Austin, TX
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
| dail-up is expensive most places When your only option is dial-up (or insanely priced sat) then just be happy you're paying 9.99 before this.
I'm sure my parents would have been very happy to have only paid 9.99.
Find a different provider in the area is what I say.
--
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. -Marie Curie | |
|
|
| thevorpal
join:2007-11-16
Endicott, NY
| Re: I wonder if the think tank ever considered... said by PhoenixDown :the fact that a lot of dial up users would gladly convert to DSL if *gasp* it was available! I cant get DSL. I may be able to get FIOS eventually but DSL is a dream. I was in a similar situation. I shopped around for a few services and found a dial-up company that offered a nice rate.
Stayed with them for about 10 months until the cable company got around to taking my money (~$1500) and ran a line to my house.
Wireless wasn't an option. DSL wasn't available, and Satellite isn't exactly broadband. AT&T wouldn't sell me ISDN, and a T1 was cost prohibitive at such a distance. | |
|
| 
CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Speakeasy
| Nothing other than Clear Wire is available to my father - he would love to get off of dialup but he can't where he lives - I am sure he will be thrilled when his dialup bill goes up as he has AT&T since he worked part time fro a division of AT&T after retiring from the govt. | |
|
rahlquist
Redeye
join:2001-10-30
Villa Rica, GA
| hmm what is it they say... "Let the free market sort it out"
Yeah umm and hows that working for you?
Next coming to a theater near you, value added electricity, water and sewer!
If you dont like it go somewhere else, oh wait, you cant.
Haha guess you must pay. | |
|
| espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN | Re: hmm what is it they say... How is that applicable here?
It's circuit switched access; you don't like what ATT is charging, then go to NetZero, or PeoplePC, or AOL for the same $10 you previously paid. | |
|
| openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL | The free market is working wonderfully. There is a plethora of dial-up ISPs available. | |
|
DotMac
Shill H8r
Premium
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA | You would think... They wanted to lose all their customers to $10.99 competitors like Net Zero. and Nutscrape. | |
|
|
See 9 replies to this post |
|
apollo80
join:2002-01-31
Richmond, VA | Go with another provider Doesn't NetZero offer a $9.99 plan for dialup?
Only real sacrifice this poor person has to go through is losing the AT@T based email address. | |
|
| |
|
treetop1000
join:2003-11-07
Lexington, KY
| There is an option. tried wifi yet?
Yeah, yeah, I know.
whine
I don't have a cellphone.
whine
What, didn't they explain this to you yet?
Drop the landline. Completely. No hard wired phone on the property. You'll thank me for it later.
You're paying them $20-$30/month plus an ISP's $20 for
dialup and the telco just jacked up your rates?
Dump them.
And tell them why.
Seriously, cell data links are faster and more available than you previously thought. Little card plugs into the laptop. Voila, internet. And if the company offers it, a Skype type phone that does calls simultaneously, anytime you want, for free( free after you pay for the cellphone service)
Unless you live out in the wastelands, everybody pretty much has connectivity. | |
|
| 
GorbGuy
join:2003-09-23
Middleville, MI
clubs:
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: There is an option. Fantastic idea! But, that thought has already come to pass. WiFi is a no go. I've contacted at least 5 different companies who are all "just out of reach."
Cellphone might be a good plan; there are a few companies that reach me. Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon. However, Verizon has that little 5GB invisicap; Sprint's service is fantastic, I've had them in the past. However, they couldn't seem to figure out where I lived from time to time (meaning, the bills would sometimes end up at the wrong house.) And going with AT&T is kind of defeating the purpose, right?
Wastelands is a pretty good term for it, I suppose. I do live in Michigan after all. Not many options on jobs or broadband. But hey, we do have Detroit and Flint!
--
Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for the change to take effect. Reboot now? | |
|
| |
Chey
@provide.net
| Re: There is an option. Both of these have STATEWIDE phone numbers available for dial-up (Also DSL available with provide!): www.provide.net and i-star.com I've had both, but it's been awhile for i-star... I'm still with provide for over 5 yrs and still the same price.. $14.95/mo auto-pay for dial-up. Since I've had both, I can actually recommend them for good service/prices. Also, you can get at least provide.net cheaper for upfront longer term payment plans. We have a local telephone company so DSL is only available for us through them.. at a premium price! Otherwise we'd go with provide's DSL in order to have the dial-up available as back up.
I love the portability of local numbers for when I visit family and friends in other areas of the state. | |
|
| 
djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| quote:
Unless you live out in the wastelands, everybody pretty much has connectivity.
Cell service is hardly that ubiquitous. Especially cell service with 3G data.
I'm in a suburb of the 2nd largest city in the US (Valencia, CA). I get a bar or two's worth of AT&T's cell service here. Better than the nothing I get from Verizon/Sprint/Nextel. It's enough to sometimes take a call or receive a text, but not good enough to ditch the landline completely.
My mother lives in a completely different area, within actual City of Los Angeles (Tujunga, CA). Her quality of service is even worse than mine. A bar that comes and goes when the weather is just right. Verizon works a little better there, but not great.
My older sister lives in a very rich area near the beach (Rolling Hills Estates). Multi-million dollar ranch homes. Surely those cherry-picking incumbents would have her area covered right? Nope. Again, marginal coverage by AT&T, and nothing from Verizon/Sprint/Nextel.
My younger sister lives a few miles away from there in Ranchos Palos Verdes. Still an expensive area but more densely populated. No cellular carrier works reliably there.
None of us would be considered to be in "wastelands" by any stretch of the imagination. We're spread out pretty far apart across Los Angeles in different economic regions. Still, not a single one of us could go with your "ditch the landline" plan.
--
Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams. | |
|
| 
RR Conductor
'Boarrrd
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
·Comcast
| said by treetop1000 :Unless you live out in the wastelands, everybody pretty much has connectivity. Not quite. | |
|
NightHawke
join:2002-02-28
Rockport, TX
| Carrot and the stick That old act just went to scene 2. They apparently want back all those numbers that are being used in the dialup pools so they can resell them for greater profit. But who is buying POTs lines these days? It's the cellular systems that are allocating the numbers by the gross lot.
I feel very sorry for the poor bastards that are getting the screw from this, being in a semi-rural community.
I would strongly suggest that you check into EVDO service by Sprint or verizon for broadband. Sprint's pretty loose with their TOS/AUP but don't push it too hard or the tower might bump you off.
Verizon's a PITA, throttling connections that exceed 5 gigs per calendar month. They got in trouble for threatening disconnects for folks that exceed the 5 gigs and had to revise their TOS/AUP for that.
Perhaps Clearwire might have a tower in your vicinity.
Check in the area for other broadband sources, and leave *shudders* satellite as your LAST resort. | |
|
|
See 7 replies to this post |
|
satellite68
join:2007-04-11
Louisville, KY
·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
| right here, on this very site... I spent a mere two minutes and found a WISP in the user's area...which offers dialup service as well.
www.reliableinter.net
Sure, it was the only option I found, but I found something. This guy spent all that time ranting about $6 per month? Come on. Surely his biggest fish to fry isn't $6 a month, which I'm sure most people are putting more than that in their gas tanks these days.
Is the world so bad that online bitching is the first recourse people thnk of? | |
|
|
GorbGuy
join:2003-09-23
Middleville, MI
clubs:
·AT&T Midwest
edit:
November 26th, @11:55AM
| Re: right here, on this very site... Wow! I hadn't seen that! Or wait, maybe you simply assume I didn't see that. Before coming on ranting about my rant, do a little homework. This service provides access to Lake Odessa, Woodland, Sunfield, and Freeport. Not my area. I have checked, as I work with the owner, of this particular companies, wife (and mother and father-in-law.) It is not available in my area. Nor is MichWave, WMWISP, AlleganWireless, MediaNet, Internet 2000, or ISG (LeapFrog.)
And perhaps you need to RTFP, I was not complaining about a measly $6 a month. I lose that by just driving by a McDonald's. I was complaining about the percentage.
Perhaps a better way to think of this... Suppose you pay $30/month for your connection. One day you get a letter from your provider telling you that you'll be now paying $48.00 next month. Now tell me you wouldn't be on a broadband site complaining. Or are you the type that just sits back and takes it up the *** like so many other sheep? It is a lack of complaining and acting that tells companies it's ok to pull crap like this. What's next, in all honesty? AT&T provides dial-up as a backup to it's DSL customers. So when are their bill's going to reflect this increase? And how many of those are going to be here complaining?
And to answer your final question, it was not my intent to come here and complain about life, gas prices, world hunger, or anything of that sort. This is a broadband website, I am complaining about lack broadband. If you interpret that into thinking that life is horrid, so be it.
And where is my DSL, AT&T? Wasn't that little "merger" with Bell South backed with commitments for widespread access by the end of 2007? That little partnership with WildBlue doesn't do anyone in the Mid-West any good now that they aren't taking customers.
--
Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for the change to take effect. Reboot now? | |
|
| | 
rcdailey
Dragoonfly
Premium
join:2005-03-29
Rialto, CA
edit:
November 26th, @01:29PM
| Re: right here, on this very site... You can be out of luck finding a non-toll dialup number for any other ISP if you are not near a county seat or some town of reasonable size (larger than 10,000 population). It helps if there is a college or university in the area. I'd widen the search as much as possible. I know you can't find out much about NetZero on line, because they don't seem to want to list their local numbers and they warn about "additional charges" for calls. That sort of statement always turns me off.
Check this site:
»https://sac-websignup01.cwnet.com/cwnet/welcome.asp
I have kept them as a dialup provider because they are completely independent of TW Cable or RR. They do have a dialup number in Grand Rapids, if that is local to you. They also claim to be offering service in Michigan, if you wonder about that. | |
|
| | satellite68
join:2007-04-11
Louisville, KY
·Vonage
·Insight Communicat..
| Wow, gee, I'm insulted. (mock sarcasm)
To answer your many questions, no, I'm not a sheep, nor do I "takes it up the ***".
Allow me to retort: All the online bitching in the world isn't going to get AT&T to change their pricing. Go ahead, prove me wrong. Nor is any amount of online bitching going to change any big corp's pricing.
I also doubt that a price increase is "crap". I'm sure they thought "that guy on broadbandreports is really gonna freak!". Sorry, no sale.
If I got a letter from my provider like you describe, I'd probably do one of the following:
1. Switch providers, if I could
2. Consider going without broadband
3. Nothing-if I want to pay more, so be it
All three are far more productive and proactive than bitching about poor whoas me, I have to pay more. | |
|
| | |
GorbGuy
join:2003-09-23
Middleville, MI
clubs:
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: right here, on this very site... It's very evident that you are some sort of fanboy or simply a troll. You're bitching about me bitching. If you don't like the fact that I tend to complain about companies that treat customers in this sort of fashion, you can always ignore my posts. It's very easy to do and I would gladly show you how.
And again, RTFP before commenting. You might thank me later...
said by GorbGuy :In any case, thanks to this bone headed move to try and swindle me out of an additional $60 a year, come December 1st, they'll be losing $720 per year. As I said in my original post, I am switching... and am completely dropping Ameritech SBC AT&T in the process. As I said before, if those views aren't those of your own, you can always just ignore my posts.
--
Your mouse has moved. Windows NT must be restarted for the change to take effect. Reboot now? | |
|
Richard B
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR | Thisa is dumb Instead of raising prices just say as of x date we will no longer provide dial-up and let the chips fall where they may. People like my mother will never go beyond dial-up. She will just find a cheaper service like Juno. | |
|
| 
Piggie
Frying Noises in My Brain
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Orange Springs, FL
·HughesNet Satellit..
·Windstream
| It's Just ATT When Cingular (might as well of been ATT back then) bought out the ATT wireless they told all the old TDMA users to buck up.
It didn't matter like me I had 10 years of on time bills, never but once using all my minutes. To change to GMA I was treated like a new customer they never saw before. Not even a slight discount to change my phone to their new standard.
Know what? I left for another carrier as did many.
Know what? ATT/Cingular survived just fine and grew.
They know they can get away with this increase. A lot of customers won't want to switch email addresses, or just switch and pay the bill. ATT I doubt will even feel a bump in the road.
My advise to those on ATT dialup is vote with your money, leave them. Protect yourself even if leaving will never hurt them.
--
| Speedstream 4200 Modem - 3m/384 plan | W98-W2KSP4-XPSP2 - All AMD | Buffalo WHR G54S with OpenWRT WR0.9 | 3 downstream switches feeding 6 total clients (no wireless) | Including the Data port on the side of my pork belly | | |
|
|
AT&T Raises Dial-Up Prices 60%
Boneheads!
more rural internet options needed