Verizon's 7-megabits-per-second DSL service is now available to over 3 million of its customers, the company said Thursday.
The service, which was announced in January, was initially only available to about 400,000 homes, in roughly 400 communities. But the company has been upgrading service and ramping up speeds in parts of 20 states and the District of Columbia. Customers interested in getting the higher-speed service should check the Verizon Web site to see if the faster speed service is available in their area. In many places the fastest DSL speeds available are still only 3Mbps.
The new service offers 7.1Mbps downloads and 768 kilobits per second uploads for $42.99 with a one-year contract that also includes local phone service. Verizon President Denny Strigl recently acknowledged during an interview at an investor conference that the company has been downplaying its DSL service in lieu of its fiber to the home service called Fios. But he said that going forward DSL will be emphasized much more.
"We certainly haven't abandoned DSL," he said.
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
Customers paying for AT&T and Yahoo's co-branded DSL service are outraged about ads that started showing up over the last few weeks that take up quite a bit of real estate on the page. A chunky "skyscraper" ad now runs up and down the right side of the page. There have always been ads on Yahoo's free Web-based e-mail service, but paying customers say the monthly fees they pay should be enough to spare them the advertising.
"AT&T Yahoo has inserted advertising into every corner and crevice of the AT&T Yahoo 7 Browser interface for email," one CNET News.com reader wrote in an e-mail. "Users of AT&T Yahoo are outraged. The company said that they needed to provide this 'feature' to give us 'unlimited storage space.' Most of us didn't want 'unlimited storage space.'"
"I'm perfectly fine with ads, but not of this enormous size. I'm completely appalled," wrote one customer in a forum on the Broadband Reports site.
"I will gladly pay more for no advertising...so why don't you charge me more and for those unwilling to pay more... you can SPAM them!!!" another wrote. "I am so angry I think steam must be coming out of my ears."
The situation prompted Nate Anderson of tech news site Ars Technica to post a humorous "letter" to Yahoo this week:
"So I get a graphical ad on the right side of the screen. Not cool, but ok, whatever. But it didn't stop there. Small text ads have appeared just above my 'Inbox' and three more are positioned just below my list of custom folders. They look 'cluttery,' like the knickknack shelf above my grandma's fireplace with its collection of wooden owls. Also, you've tacked an ad to the 'sent mail' confirmation screen. Thanks! Diving into this with both feet, I see."
Someone has even posed a question on Yahoo Answers asking how to get rid of the ads:
"When Yahoo/AT&T/SBC switched to adding ads in the browser page of my email, at first I was 'eh...it's not so bad' but now, its causing issues with my computer. Or at least it seems that way. Email takes along time to load, it stutters as it loads. Just annoying. Any suggestions other than use a different mail browser?"
Sadly, as of three days later there was not one answer.
Yahoo's answer to me, via a spokesman, was that they have received "minimal feedback" about the ads and that it was a "business decision by both companies to do this."
Then the canned e-mail Yahoo statement arrived: "This will serve as a new source of revenue to help maintain our commitment of delivering a leading broadband experience complete with industry leading features at a competitive price. As we remain committed to providing users with the best possible online experience, the new advertisements will be carefully integrated and aimed at being useful to consumers."
Hmmmm. "Carefully integrated" and "useful?" Try again.
Maybe Yahoo should take a cue from Microsoft. The software giant provoked a similar response early on when it tested skyscraper ads, but decided to drop the ads and forgo the revenue.
Update 10:00 a.m. June 22: I received e-mails and reader feedback noting that although Yahoo claims not to have received a lot of customer complaints about this matter there are pages and pages and pages on Yahoo's own Yodel Anecdotal blog of angry barbs written by customers furious about the ads. Too many comments to count. I'd say that's not so "minimal."AT&T over the weekend rolled out its bargain-basement deal for DSL, looking to snare new broadband users with its $10 per month subscription price.
The telecom giant is offering AT&T Yahoo High-Speed Internet to only new customers, which include users who have not been an AT&T Yahoo High Speed Internet, or Bell South High Speed Internet, subscriber for the past 12 months.
The offer, which requires a one-year contract, will be in place until Dec. 29, 2009, and the cost of the $49.99 DSL modem will be waived for new customers who use the rebate.
But as the Associated Press noted, finding the registration form on AT&T's Web site may be as easy as looking for the light switch in a darkened basement.
Users will need to click on the button for "Get DSL at a Dial-up Price," which is under the basic DSL $14.99 heading. From there, users will need to enter their relevant information.
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