AT&T has started using push polls and astroturf to convince Kentucky residents losing their DSL lines, paying higher prices, and losing all state consumer protections is going to work out really well for them. AT&T is of course going state to state insisting their telecom regulations need "modernizing" for an all IP age. In reality, AT&T's planning to hang up on DSL and POTS customers, either driving those users to a stronger cable monopoly (resulting in higher prices), or to AT&T LTE service where DSL users would pay significantly higher rates for data ($15 per GB).

While it makes sense for AT&T's wallet, the effort is a major shift in telecom whose resulting long-term ripples AT&T would prefer local politicians not think to much about. Kentucky and Kansas have received the lion's share of AT&T's initial focus, with AT&T proclaiming that deregulating the company will result in improved service and lower prices, even if historically the exact opposite occurs. One Kentucky Broadband Reports reader notes that AT&T has trotted out their favorite tactics to get Kentucky locals to root against their own best self interests: push polls and astroturf.

Specifically, a group by the name of "Citizens for a Digital Future" has been running local ads across Kentucky proclaiming that Kentucky senate bill 88 will actually increase the state's access to broadband services, despite the fact it does the exact opposite. Citizens for a Digital Future of course is backed primarily by AT&T, and -- just in case you didn't know -- has nothing to do with actual citizens. The astroturf outfit has also taken to running local editorials that contain push polls designed to get a specific response. Some results from one such poll:Granted those numbers would shift dramatically if users were asked more realistic questions like "do you think AT&T should be free from all consumer protections?" or "would you like it if AT&T severed your DSL and POTS line?" As for "partisan support," in a sane world neither party would support letting a lumbering monopoly write state laws focused on jacking up prices and reducing service, but a few campaign contributions and some job promises very quickly has many states rooting against their own best long-term connectivity interests.