Comments on: SBC closes AT&T acquisition

Starting Friday SBC Communications will be called AT&T, as SBC closes the books on its $16.9 billion acquisition.

[Betty Roper]

Everything old is new again

There's a mythological element to all this. AT&T the parent is devoured by its progeny and reborn as a shadow of its former self.

It took twenty years and untold billions to basically divide Ma Bell into two regional phone companies.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

[XxXBoodroXxX]

haa ahaaahahahahah

I agree...full circle!

[R. U. Sirius]

So we broke up AT&T Orginally, and...

ended up with the new AT&T renamed as SBC. Yeah, makes sense to me. So what happens now?

[dlmtechnology]

no no no not SBC

SBC may have bought AT&T but SBC is changing its name TO AT&T
because they feel that name has a better BRAND RECOGNITION
then SBC.

[Stating]

Did They Save The Signage?

A few years ago when SBC bought Pacific Bell there was a flurry of activity as SBC went around taking down the PacBell signage from all their central offices and replacing them with SBC signage. This followed of course, the replacement of AT&T signage with PacBell signage. Let us pray that somewhere in the recesses of SBC/PacBell/AT&T storage facilities there remains the original signage.

[Earl Benser]

It's too bad....

... that SBC doesn't have a clue about the integrity and quality and
customer consciousness that were the hallmarks of the true AT&T.
Now they have a named shell, and the only thing they care about is
the bottom line. SBC= Screw Bell Customers.... and they did, and
they will continue to do so.

SBC - Oh the horror

I recently moved to Texas, I used to have Vonage in Washington, I had a few complaints about it, but nothing too bad. I thought I would go back to the copper line, so I called SBC to have a phone installed. Day one, phone installed, cables lay all over my driveway. I called they said they would bury the cable, which they did about a week later. I tried to call someone on my phone, fast busy, I tried to call my new number from my cell phone, rang and rang and rang, but the physical phone did not. I called SBC on my cell phone, they told me they gave me a bad number. So I would have to change my number to another number...All of a sudden I have two phone bill one for each number each with installation charges, and a $400 phone bill. Long story short, I cancelled the SNC service, got Vonage back. SBC sent me a survey about how they could improve their already great customer service! The Gall! When I was disconnecting the phone, I told the customer service people they should look for new jobs because this company will not survive in it's current form. Bad service, high prices, rude customer service, and arrogance.

The monopolist strikes back

More than 20 years ago AT&T was broken up. The long distance company retained the name and faced significant competition. Due to "natural monopoly" conditions in the local loop and poor regulation to compensate for this the baby bells essentially retained their monopoly power. Baby bells have been successful and levereging monopoly power over the local loop into an all-but monopoly over DSL and similar services. 20 years later the monopolists are cleaning up the field, acquiring successful long distance players, and hoping - perhaps - to extend their monoply power further. The lesson I take from this: Regulation in the local loop was insufficient and ineffective, better regulation is needed to bring the benefits of competition to the local loop, and downstream services such as DSL. Somehow the FCC has a very different take and amazingly, sees the fact that a local monopolist is adding long distance service to its vertical integrated set of services as a herald of competition!