John Cioffi joins the show to explain the difference between fiber optic cable and copper cable. Find out what you should know and why you should care.
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I just got my digital TV converter box. I'm planning on dumping Comcast, and this is the first step. The next is either DSL or Clearwire or something--anything--but the "traffic shaping" cable giant's offers. In shopping around, I've noticed that many broadband sellers (Comcast included) are offering a special price and, if you sign up for a two-year contract, the ability to lock that price in for life.
Sounds good, right? $29.99 for broadband, from now till you switch carriers, even if their prices go up. The thing is, it's not a great deal.
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If you subscribe to a broadband Internet service today, more likely you use cable than DSL. According to a study released Thursday by J.D. Power and Associates, cable modem usage is increasing at a faster rate than DSL usage among Internet customers, as dial-up use continues to decrease.
More and more people are moving to broadband services to access the Internet.
The firm has performed the Internet service provider residential customer satisfaction study for 11 years. Every year, the study measures customer satisfaction with high-speed and dial-up Internet service providers based on five factors: performance and reliability, cost of service, customer service, billing, and offerings and promotions. It uses a 1,000-point scale to gauge the providers' performance.
For 2008, the study was fielded in July and based on responses from 16,933 residential customers of Internet service providers nationwide.
The 2008 result indicates that both cable and DSL service have increased among broadband services, with cable now up to 41 percent (from 36 percent in 2007) and DSL up to 30 percent (from 27 percent), among all broadband users. At the same time, the share of dial-up Internet users has continued to decrease and now accounts for only 25 percent of all Internet users, a 10 percent decrease since 2007.
According to the study, 2008 is also a year of change with only 30 percent of customers remaining loyal to their service provider, down from 42 percent in 2007. Cost saving is the main reason customers switch services, accounting for 69 percent of broadband users and 40 percent of dial-up users.
Regarding customer satisfaction, EarthLink Net is ranked No. 1 in dial-up service, scoring 633 points, followed by United Online (630) and MSN (602). To nobody's surprise, AOL is at the bottom with only 551 points.
The study examined Internet providers in four regions.
East region: Cablevision ranks highest with a score of 650 points, followed by EarthLink (643) and Embarq (634).
South region: Road Runner tops the chart with 670. After that, Verizon (663) and Insight (661) are also high in customer satisfaction.
North central region: In this region, WOW! ranks the highest with 702, which is also the highest in all regions. Cincinnati Bell and Cox follow with 665 and 663, respectively.
West region: Cox Communications ranks highest with 641, followed by EarthLink (630) and Verizon (625).
Personally, I use Comcast and it's ranked among the lowest at 559 points, though I've been fairly happy with it. How about you?
AT&T has increased the price of its DSL service by $5 a month as the company faces slowing broadband growth, the company confirmed Tuesday.
The pricing change will apply to existing and new customers in AT&T's original 13-state territory who subscribe to one of AT&T's three lower-speed tiers of service.
Customers subscribing to AT&T's new U-verse service will not see a change in their bill, nor will customers who have service in the old BellSouth region. The company is not changing pricing on the $10 and $19.95 standalone DSL services that AT&T is required to offer as a condition of its merger with BellSouth. AT&T's Elite subscribers, who get download speeds of 6Mbps also will not see a price change.
AT&T's move to jack up pricing on its DSL service comes a month after CEO Randall Stephenson said that the weak economy was affecting the company's DSL subscription numbers. A spokesman for the company said the price hike was done to "better reflect the value of the broadband service and market conditions."
"Even with this adjustment, our pricing still beats cable's standard pricing across the majority of our markets," AT&T spokesman Brad Mays said in an e-mail. "We're confident that customers will see the value in the service and that we'll continue to grow our customer base."
Here is the breakdown on the pricing changes for AT&T's DSL service:
Bundled with home phone:
• Basic (768Kbps): $14.99 to $19.95
• Express (1.5Mbps): $19.99 to $25
• Pro (3Mbps): $24.99 to $30
• No change to Elite (6Mbps): $34.99
AT&T DSL Direct (standalone):
• No change to Basic (768Kpbs): $19.95
• Express (1.5Mbps) : $23.99 to $29
• Pro (3Mbps):$28.99 to $34
• No change to Elite: $38.99
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