AT&T Raises Rates Further On DSL Customers

I have Comcast mainly, but have AT&T DSL as a backup because I work from home. Back in 2006, it was $34 without a 'contract'. When they dropped contracts, I was able to get it down to $19. For the past 2 -3 years, it's been increased almost every 6-9 months. The last bill was $36. I'd call to see if I could get some promotional rate, but they'd rather see me drop it entirely, I'd guess.

They have no place a cap on me yet and as for the price increase I am already paying $54 for 6 meg only as I do not have the home phone. I use cell phone as home phone

It is easier to make a case for dropping copper if there are no customers.

The main problem is that most people who are still on DSL in these areas don't have a cable company to go to. In the Southeast, many areas only have old legacy DSL available.

AT&T still sends me offers for $15-$20 per month. If they want to kill DSL, not sure why they are still doing this.

If my track record is any indication, that is simply untrue.

AT&T copper is generally, universally rotten, and requires multiple bucket-truck service calls per year to maintain. Not cheap.

This is probably more of an attempt to migrate more users to U-Verse than to simply raise rates.

ATT is just weird.. Instead of adding more potential customers to their database they seem to be more interested in offering yet more broadband options to people that at least have their dsl as an option.. My brother for example lives a mile from me but is serviced from a different RT than I do. His already has a DSLAM and is able to use the service etc.. My RT is fiber fed, and even has had fiber fed from it to another RT to supply uverse to that area and to a cell tower even further down the road.. Yet my location doesn't even have a dslam, nor vrad. There are more than enough house's to benefit from the upgrade cost here and they would be the main competitor as comcast stopped .5 mile (yes thats a half mile) from the RT itself and they only cover a fraction of the potential customers that att has on this RT.. Yet they only seem interested in boosting speeds in areas already with options.....

I just don't get it.

I would guess that the vast majority of these AT&T DSL customers have NO U-Verse option anywhere nearby. Remember that the majority of AT&T's territory does NOT have U-Verse available.

These customers' best broadband option is go to the local cableco. Nearby, Peoria/East Peoria's AT&T DSL option would be Comcast. Same would apply to many other Central Illinois metros.

goes around and pulls all legacy dsl offline for life.
time to put a stop to old legacy dsl lines.

lets have fcc pull landline use offline.
no legacy copper in 2016. means the death of dsl.

Same here. But they're all for 768k/1.5M, so I'll pass.

I do have U-verse but in out area the U verse service ends at the last block of developed metro area. Beyond that no Uverse .

And what exactly do you propose replace the ADSL/POTS lines in these rural regions? Cellular?

How much does VZ/AT&T pay you?

We all know that they will never deploy FTTH in a majority of their footprint. Even though the network has been paid for many times over in Subsidies from the Gubmint.

Has it ever been anything else since the FCC became the public watchdog?

I would certainly support them pulling all copper and would even encourage a broadband law nationally that required it.

The only catch is, they would be required to replace every inch of copper running to every home and business within their foot print with fiber and have X to do it before either paying very stiff fines or forfeiting the network all together.

read the at&t fine print.. $99 install + other fees.. up to $180 early termination fee, just about negates any savings..

I'll stick with tethering my smart phone to my laptop. $32/mo. 100 minutes, unlimited messages, 5GB 4G data, 2G after that..

What does uverse use, fiber optics to your home?

AT&T has done so much wrong that even if they do start offering U-Verse in my neighborhood I would still pick cable if available.

Now if Mediacom would get off its butt I could cancel the last service I have left with AT&T!

Up to 24Mbit ADSL for as low as $25-30, 80Mbit down, 20Mbit up VDSL for maybe $40 or $50, FTTP (where available, as high as 330Mbit/30Mbit) for not much more again. Choice of 20 or 30 ISPs, some of whom allow truly unlimited usage. I'm in a village of 2000 people, and I can get the ADSL and VDSL. Pretty much everyone can get ADSL, with VDSL coverage continuing to expand (and some FTTP for the lucky people).

Not to mention the tiny amount I pay for a cellphone with unlimited data and great rural coverage.

Except Uverse is also "copper". They just want more money out of that stone. It's technology they haven't touched in a decade, aren't going to upgrade, and by some reports, aren't even repairing.

That's the "copper" loop, if voice weren't crossing it, it's very likely they wouldn't be fixing it. (I know my line doesn't get fixed until I log "voice" issues. I'd have to check, but I think it's been 3 times in 7 years: bad DLSAM port, bad "combiner", and "water in a cross box". Prior to that, twice in 11 years: a SLC system failure at the CO, and a lightning strike at an RT.)

In VERY rare cases. 99.999% are the same old BS copper loop, just MUCH shorter loops.

Either they push people off legacy DSL they don't want to support, they push people towards the U-verse they do want to support or they get more money out of people that have no better options.

At&t's Uverse/DSL footprint is interesting. They're really only competitive if you are really close to the CO/VRAD or if you're rural and have no options. If you're somewhere in between, likely your cable company provides a better deal. Since POTS/DSL aren't their big money makers anymore, they can just cherry pick where they choose to compete.

Nope. No U-verse option for most of AT&T's service areas in the state of Georgia. They send lots of advertising to me about bundling with Direct TV or Dish Network, and AT&T wireless.

I visited a friend over this past weekend in Monroe County, GA. He said his neighbors have gotten nowhere trying to get AT&T DSL run to the area. Verizon Wireless has apparently decided not to fix the dead zones in the county, so EVDO or LTE are not easy options. AT&T wireless data does not work well either without a lot of capital expenditures. Personal towers or big roof mounts for directional antennas, lots of very low loss coaxial cable, bidirectional amplifiers, electrical grounding for lightning dissipation, and making sure you are legal to do that construction. In that area you get a lot of marketing materials for satellite internet. No one he has talked to is happy with satellite internet service.

It might be nice if AT&T lived up to its promises to the people of Georgia to build out that U-Verse network.

I think dslsucks101 might be trying to explain AT&T's thinking, not his own.

Exactly.

Quite frankly the Comcast customer experience is as bad as ATT only Concast is even more expensive. Duopoly in action.

Uverse is copper...

AT&T is letting a lot of money go by leaving tons of FTTC customers in the dark. I'm my sub division there are about 6-700 homes and the only option here is Comcast because DSL is capped out. One time I called AT&T and the rep offered me dial up. I just hung up the phone because I felt that was a slap in the face.

Could you use an LTE connection as backup?