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Surprises

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Jul 22nd 2004 10:44am





Won't Be Able To Get Phone Service From Ma Bell Any More

from the there-goes-that-plan dept

AT&T keeps on changing. It seems you never can be quite sure what they're going to offer, what they're going to kill, and what they're going to spin off. However, they clearly do realize that the telecom environment they're in these days is quite different than it's been in the past. They've been ramping up their VoIP efforts, and following the ruling that says the RBOCs don't need to share their lines, it appears AT&T has decided to throw all their residential voice eggs into the VoIP basket. Thus, they're no longer selling long distance phone service to residential customers. They will still sell to businesses (where the money is for them anyway) and will still support existing AT&T phone customers, but for the first time, you will no longer be able to get traditional telephone service from AT&T to your home. Of course, between VoIP and the eventual wireless MVNO plan they're going to offer, it looks like AT&T may be the first major telco to realize that many people don't really need a traditional voice line at all any more. Who would have thought that AT&T might lead the way (though, perhaps out of necessity, not vision)?

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    does AT&T know anything about business?

    identicon
    aNonMooseCowherd, Jul 23rd, 2004 @ 12:58am

    A couple of years ago I calculated that it cost about ten to twenty times as much to make a call using AT&T as it did using a prepaid calling card. With pricing models like these, it's a wonder the company is still in business at all.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    AT&T Blending VoIP and Wireless

    identicon
    Andy Abramson, Jul 23rd, 2004 @ 7:14am

    You are dead on, and that's why I'm high on Dave Dorman and the job he's doing at AT&T. He's a Jack Welch type CEO, willing to go left when everyone else is going right. He's making the kind of moves to reengineer a company that has incredible assets, some very smart people, and extensive visibility. The AT&T brand is still a solid brand, it suffers no identity crisis, and its VOIP product, CallVantage is hands down the winner so far as far as call quality. If they can duplicate what Virgin Mobile is doing with Sprint, a company Dorman knows very well, then the new MVNO from AT&T, with VoIP as its brother act, could be a very powerful one two punch for consumers. Andy Abramson

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    Re: AT&T Blending VoIP and Wireless

    identicon
    Tom Keating, Sep 9th, 2004 @ 12:46pm

    AT&T's entry into VoIP is certainly interesting. I do think their "spin" that they don't compete with cable companies is way off. I discussed that in this link:AT&T suckers the cable companies on voip broadband service

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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