Cheap DSL That Isn't Quite As Cheap As You Might Have Been Told
from the truth-in-advertising? dept
For months now, US DSL providers have been advertising much cheaper DSL service, and it's been winning them a lot of business away from the cable broadband providers. However, when you look at the details, you might realize that the cheap DSL isn't quite as cheap as they made it out to be - and, in some cases, it's quickly getting more expensive. Like other telephony services, some DSL providers are adding additional "regulatory fees" to their DSL pricing. Like most of these fees, they aren't actually government mandated fees, but are instead a way to sneak in a price increase while still publishing much lower prices. At the same time, SBC is offering a slightly higher priced offering, but with plenty of requirements. If you want the faster service at the cheaper price, you also have to sign up for every other service that SBC offers: local and long-distance telephone service and a Cingular mobile phone plan. If you don't sign up for all of those, then you have to pay a lot more. There's nothing wrong with bundling, of course, but all of this comes across as being misleading or dishonest to the customer. Advertising cheap packages that are impossible to get doesn't make consumers particularly happy about the service they're getting - and, instead, makes them trust their broadband provider less. While it may be working now in getting them attention and signups, you wonder how loyal those customers will be long-term, as other options appear.
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No Subject Given
DSL sucks. I have cable at home and my father and girlfriend have DSL and for the money they are paying, it's just really ridiculous how they can even tout they have a better service. The thoroughput is a joke and the pricing forget about. And don't forget, a lot of places require that you also have a local line from the same company. What's up with that?
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Re: No Subject Given
That last argument is not valid when comparing to cable. Because find me a cable company that doesnt' require you to have at least some form of cable to the house before you can get cable modem access. I mean sure they will let you do it, but you will pay a premium, sometimes they force you basic basic cable, but its not just the cable modem and the price is the same.
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I have Satellite
I have satellite (with integrated Tivo!) and love it and don't want to change. I have SBC DSL and hate it, but signing up for just cable internet doesn't make sense. So I have satellite and DSL. Plus the switching costs for either/both are pretty high.
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Re: No Subject Given
Here we have cable modem access for $49.95 per month, and if you have digital cable television you get a $10 price break on the internet side.
I had just cable modem for the first year while I still used Dish Network, but when I sat down and did a cost comparison of Dish Network on 4 TVs plus cable modem vs. Digital cable on 4 TVs with cable modem it was a huge difference, soemthing like $40 per month savings.
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I have DSL and OTA
I had digital cable for a while and considered getting their internet service. But having previously dealt with the same cable company in another state I had bad memories about them. I decided to try DSL and have enjoyed it since. Speedwise, cable is faster, but I enjoy the unencumbered service (as in personal servers), good uptime, and "consistent" speed the DSL provides (I'm not sure if it's still the same but by evening my highspeed cable was as bad as modem due to everyone jumping on).
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Re: No Subject Given
Well of course you can't get cable modem access without "some form of cable". A cable modem needs to connect to something, get it?
I have internet access through Time Warner but without cable television service and there is no extra charge.
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Re: I have DSL and OTA
I gather that you are satisfied with the speed,etc. of DSL. I still have dail-up and desperately need a change but with all I'm hearing, don't know what to change to. I DO NOT HAVE CABLE. I've been thinking of changing to Yahoo DSL. Do you think that I would be happy with that?
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Re: Cable Internet
I still have dail-up and want to change. I DO NOT HAVE CABLE. How much do you pay for the internet access through Time Warner?
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Re: I have Satellite
I still have dail-up but need to change soon. I DO NOT HAVE CABLE. Why doesn't it make sense to sign up for just cable internet? Satelitte with Tivo; how much does that cost? What do you hate about SBC DSL?
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