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Chapter 11 For Excite@Home
n8twj writes: "According to this story at CNET News, Excite@Home, the leading provider of broadband Internet access, said Friday it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and sell its high-speed network to AT&T for $307 million in cash."
jgbrown adds: "@Home files for Chapter 11, they are going to sell their assets to AT&T unless they get a higher offer. Here is a Yahoo News link." An Anonymous Coward adds a link to a story at cnnfn.com." Just like Loki and Exodus, this doesn't mean that Excite@Home has dropped off the face of the earth -- it does mean that are seeking legal protection from creditors in an attempt to reorganize.
September 29, 2001
To: All Rogers @Home high speed Internet customers
A couple of weeks ago we made a commitment to keep you updated on any
developments regarding Excite @Home in the U.S.
Yesterday Excite @Home announced that it has agreed to sell its high-speed
Internet access assets to AT&T, pending court approval. We are very pleased
with this announcement as Rogers has worked well with AT&T in the past and
continues to do so. As you may know, AT&T is one of the largest
communications companies in the world.
At the same time, Excite filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of
the United States Bankruptcy Code. This action allows Excite to remain in
control of its business and provides it with protection from creditors
pending completion of the sale.
Please be assured that our commitment to you remains to provide you with
the best high speed Internet service.
We will continue to update you on a regular basis so that you remain
informed.
Alek Krstajic
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Rogers @Home
September 29, 2001
To: All Rogers @Home high speed Internet customers
A couple of weeks ago we made a commitment to keep you updated on any
developments regarding Excite @Home in the U.S.
Yesterday Excite @Home announced that it has agreed to sell its high-speed
Internet access assets to AT&T, pending court approval. We are very pleased
with this announcement as Rogers has worked well with AT&T in the past and
continues to do so. As you may know, AT&T is one of the largest
communications companies in the world.
At the same time, Excite filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of
the United States Bankruptcy Code. This action allows Excite to remain in
control of its business and provides it with protection from creditors
pending completion of the sale.
Please be assured that our commitment to you remains to provide you with
the best high speed Internet service.
We will continue to update you on a regular basis so that you remain
informed.
Alek Krstajic
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Rogers @Home
It's kind of scary that The President's Analyst is going to become timely again (BTW: If you haven't seen this movie, you should, it's got a very sneaky wit).
;-)
AT&T is thinking about selling it's broadband access to AOL, and this deal is likely just intended to sweeten the pot. Imagine, AOL as the one true broadband provider/movie studio/tv news outlet/browser company/music label? Yep, time to start a dialup ISP in MY area
Thank you sweet lord. I saw AOL was eyeing the @home network. I sooo would rather have At&T thatn AOL. They don't even have an SMTP server for their users. Thank you Jesus.
I really hate Dan Patrick.
AT&T, the company that U.S. government broke into pieces due to antitrust, is gaining back gradually its monopoly position. Looking at the telecom market in the U.S., the breakup was not particularly effective and comparing to the mobile cellular phone technology of NTT's DoCoMo or of Europe, the U.S. technology in this area sucks.
The Internet phenomenon that was led by the U.S. was due to the invention of HTTP and web browser and the router and backbone explosion was simply a knee-jerk reaction to the growth of WWW -proving that the telecom market has not been very healthly.
This brings us the question: what is the best remedy for MS if breakup might not be successful?
¦ ©® ±
Do you think that AT&T would continue to block incoming ports to prevent people from running personal servers on standard ports (80, 21, 25, etc)? Thankfully I have Time Warner Cable so nothing is blocked, though I feel that may change at any time in the form of a "change of end user agreement" form someday. It's probably wishful thinking, but just curious nonetheless.
You people may like to look at Bob's article from August 30 which quite neatly explains where Excite@Home finds itself.
Remind me to buy stock in Cringely if he ever IPOs.
as long as it's not Disney or Charter. Many of us have linux in place and running well, replacing the Microsoft dependancy while getting kudos from management and doing thing that are impossible under windows. If we get purchased by one of the Microsoft puppets. (Or the Natzi's at Disney... no facial hair? I will be one that will sue the crap out of the company)
It's sad that AT&T's president is running around asking "Please buy this... I'll take anything... Please!!! buy this!!!"
I just wish that the stock-holders of AT&T had some backbone and fired the entire executive branch and replaced them with a group that is interested in making broadband work instead of making a few dollars quickly when things are tight. AT&T broadband is full of the best and brightest Last year we had lots of cash do do the work, this year we recieved 1/5th of that and still preformed the work (Finding no-cost solutions like Linux for example) and next year we expect 0 funding above bare-minimum operating costs... I will still impliment a fax server (linux based)and a document management system (Linux based).. Both of which would have cost $50,000 each if based under windows 2000 (I priced them out with quotes 2 years ago, so those are pretty darn close in actual cost)
Comcast could be a good thing for Broadband. Anyone know if they are hostile to non MS solutions? AT&T has always been open to it and the Computer and Network Acceptable use polocy specifically states that any free or GNU software is fully allowed to get work done in the company.
how about charter?
Okay maybe ssomeone here with a higher mental capacity can help me -
I Have @Home service, But I pay my bill to AT&T @Home. My cable TV is Comcast, but I pay my bill to ATT Cable. When I call for service, A Media One truck pulls up.
I am beginning to think all of these cable companies are a smokescreen for Microsoft.
Jesse Wolfe Sr. Manager Systems Integration
- Sell it off. Yahoo!, MSN or AOL could buy Excite to gain customers, Viacom or Disney could buy it to gain a (better) web presence, but chances are no one would pay enough to make it worth the effort for AT&T.
- Turn it into an AT&T Broadband-only network. Essentially, AT&T could take the current http://home.excite.com/ page, turn that into http://www.attathome.com/, merge the user databases, and ditch the rest of Excite (so you'd have to be a paying customer to use it). This is probably more likely, but if AT&T's planning on selling off Broadband anyway, it may only take time away from negotiations with another cable company.
- Don't do anything yet. AT&T would pretty much make an Excite@Home group inside AT&T Broadband, and not merge the services at all, instead spending effort on negotiations with Comcast. Then, once Comcast and AT&T Broadband merge, it's Comcast's problem.
I think that AT&T will try for about a month to sell Excite, and if they're unsuccessful, they'll just wait until the merger.I got a letter from Shaw@home (Calgary, Alberta).
@home doesn't own the cable network; they own the servers, chiefly the email infrastructure and web space.
So shaw.ca has it's own mail servers.. and is encouraging users to switch over voluntarily (before they all get their mail cut off when @home goes down the toilet).
Internet service won't go out. You'll still continue the same way as ever.
(replace AT&T with Adelphia if they happen to be the one gobbling up your local cable provider)
We are AT&T, we will add your technological destictiveness to our own, while purchasing your pipes and customer base at pennys of the initial cost. Lower your shields, resistance is futile.
If there is any cable providers besides AT&T, AOL, and Adelphia in 2 years I'll be amazed.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF SHAW COMMUNICATIONS INC.
Dear Shaw@Home customers:
Shaw is committed to providing its customers with the most reliable and secure high-speed Internet service available. Three years ago, we partnered with the @Home Corporation out of Redwood City, California to provide our customers with a full multimedia high-speed Internet experience. Since then, we have recognized that in order to maintain our highest quality standard, we require full control of our network.
Shaw has invested over $330 million into our high-speed cable Internet network. Over the last year, customers have been enjoying many services such as domain hosting, high performance network, secure connections, broadband content, and 24 hour customer service all on our own Internet infrastructure. Now, with the recent launch of our new Internet Data Centre, Shaw@Home customers now have a full suite of services, including email and web space available to them; all on Shaw`s very own Internet network.
Fortunately, our proactive actions came at a time when confidence in the service that the @Home Corporation in the U.S. was providing, was diminishing. But, because of the network construction we have completed, the current financial issues that the @Home Corporation are facing will have no impact to the quality of service we provide our customers. Shaw is confident that, the major shareholders of @Home Corp will maintain all e-mail and web space services without impacting its 3.7 million customers across North America.
Bottom line, all current customers who have @home.com email addresses and webspace, (managed by @Home Corp. in the U.S.), can currently maintain these existing addresses as well as choose an @shaw.ca. We will be contacting all current Shaw@Home customers, encouraging to transition over to the @shaw.ca email and webspace. To register for your new email and webspace accounts go to http://support.shaw.ca
Shaw will continue to meet its customers` demand for the Shaw@Home high-speed Internet service. We are committed to providing the fastest, most reliable and easiest-to use service via a content portal to access the best video and audio content available on the web.
We thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Peter Bissonnette
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
But I had been planning to switch to Comcast @Home if/when my office begins paying for my connection because supposedly we'll be getting the 2Mbit business connection. At this rate, Comcast will own everything cable-based with the exception of Time-Warner and Cablevision (and other West-coast based cable companies I may not know about).
Guess I might just ask to have my ADSL kicked up to business SDSL...
Having been inside a few companies (and healthy ones, at that) while a transition has taken place (merger, buyout), I'm a little scared to be an @Home customer right now.
One of the first things to go is the quality of service to the customer. Technical foul-ups as things are transitioned, either technically, or between different groups of people.
I have to say that @Home really didn't add much to my Internet experience that, say, Roadrunner, or Media One would have provided. (The Excite merger really didn't see any major benefits for @Home customers.)
While I'm not worried that I'll be completely shut off, I am worried about the quality of service going forward. It is a legitimate concern. But I don't (yet) have enough motiviation to switch to some other form (DSL, etc) of high speed communications.
Here's hoping that @Home/ATT/Whoever doesn't drop the ball.
AT & T has the money and infrastructure capabilitird to avoid someone else running their network. For most other startups, the investment in the wiring, etc. needed is too great.
Believe me, if @Home could run their own network, they would have.
I like fire ants. They are very spicy!
All AOL application/users jokes aside (and believe me, I find the current AOL consumer offer loathesome!), it may not be so bad. AOL has some incredibly smart people running a pretty impressive network. A financially stable company running a solid network? Sounds pretty good to me, even if it is Steve Case running the show. As long as I don't have to use that AWFUL AOL client, and change the way I use my Internet connection, I'll probably not mind.
Hey - look at it this way - the tech support personnel can't get any worse! Ever talk to an @home tech that's less than 3rd level? Wouldn't know a subnet mask from ldap server.
The unsig!
...it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and sell its high-speed network to AT&T for $307 million in cash...
...preferably in non-sequential unmarked bills.
Well, I have Comcast@Home cable service, and I have had absolutely zero problems using Linux on it. You just have to configure the system to use DHCP (and that's not hard. :))
In fact, the one time I had to have a technician to the house to fix a hardware problem (the equipment on the pole was *ancient*) he took one look at my machine and asked "Which distro?"
I'd say that they're pretty friendly to Linux.
AOL, ATT and Comcast were falling over themselves today in attempts to buy the ailing @home. However, it is believed that talks have fallen through. Evidence of this was leaked by a disgruntled employee who had a copy the 'training tape' made when Comcast called:
@home: "Hello, can I have your at home account name please?"
comcast: "Er, actually I work for Comcast and I would like to buy your company, and I need to speak to your CEO about a deal"
@home: "Oh, can I have your primary email address then please?"
comcast: "No, you don't understand, I called earlier and left a message for your CEO to call me back."
@home: "Ok, I see the problem then. Could you unplug your cable modem for 30 seconds please?"
comcast: "What? No, I need to speak..."
@home: "I'm sorry that won't be possible, nobody here has telephones. You need to unplug your cable modem."
@comcast: "You don't understand, if I don't speak to your CEO, you could lose your job."
@home: "I'm sorry, my SEE-EE-OH doesn't have a telephone. Could you reboot your PC now please?"
@comcast: "Oh for heavens sake, you'll be the first against the wall"
@home: "Oh there's a problem with your wall, we'll send a technician round then. Thank you for calling @home."
Later on, the disgruntled employee complained about @home's recruitment policy. "At the interview, they said all I needed to be able to do was to pick up the phone and to speak English. Technical ability was never a requirement. They never did trust me - I was never allowed to see the secret document that showed how to transfer calls to people that fix problems. What is a cable modem anyway?"
I see no mention of this on Excite's home page and they have a news service. Take a look nothing there!
:)
I get all my news from one source
On every new Mac (and every time you install a fresh OS upto and included 10.1) the Web Browser's default home page is http://apple.excite.com/ will this mean there'll be a lot of machines with a lot of broken home pages in a month or so?
I have trouble with passwords among other things.
AT&T WorldNet was the dialup ISP I left when I got my Comcast@Home service. Cable or not, I was about to leave them anyway.
AT&T WorldNet, who offered me "unlimited" internet access for ~ $20 per month, and then complained that their network was overtaxed when I used it as per our agreement. A couple months before I finally went to cable, they switched from ~$20/month for unlimited, to ~$20/month for x hours, and then ridiculous additional charges for going over x. Fuck AT&T.
They ought to change their advertisting slogan to "AT&T. We have altered the deal. Pray we do not alter if further."
..that @home didn't gobble up our local broadband ISP, planetcable when the cable company switched over to comcast.
The service isn't always the most stable (more crappy line to my house related than anything, I think), but I like the way they run the business, allowing me to do as I please with the bandwidth they provide. Having your own mail server and web server to do anything you want with is wonderful.
"AT&T, the company that U.S. government broke into pieces due to antitrust, is gaining back gradually its monopoly position"
If the old AT&T monopoly exists in any form today, it is in the shape of Southwestern Bell (SBC). AT&T proper bears no resemblence to its 1970 shape.
With that in mind, AT&T actually had the best strategy of any of the data communication companies: build a full portfolio of services (voice, data, cable, mobile), with as much global component as the hyper-nationalism over telecomm allows (can you say DT?), and offer it to home and business customers in a bundle.
But as soon as the stock price dropped a bit, Armstrong panic'd and started selling pieces. Now there is no player on the field who even comes close to being able to offer that bundle.
sPh
1.) Verizon is my ILEC out here. Verizon gave me only 384/128 dialup over a 768/128 "Bronze" ADSL connection when I had Flashcom service. Flashcom would point fingers at Verizon, Verizon would point fingers at Flashcom. Nothing got resolved. Eventually I quit in disgust.
2.) Adelphia@Home is the cable modem option out here. They actually had a hella deal for a while...free for 3 months, 1/2 price for 6 months, then 25% off for the next 3 months. However, I never got a straight answer about the infrastructure they are using in my neighborhood. Is it DOCSIS or is it old-school cable modem? What's the policy on adding nodes? The sales droids lied to me all the way down the line as far as what they were giving me. "DOCSIS? Sure! It's top-of-the-line infrastructure out your way!" Then when the cable guy came over to install it, I asked him what was going on. "Oh, this isn't DOCSIS. You're getting the old style setup...we won't be using DOCSIS in this neighborhood for at least six months." I told him thank you, no, and that's where that stands.
And what about other options? Satellite? Too expensive, Windows 95/98 only, latency is sucky. Ad-hoc 802.11b networks? Not enough geeks live here, security stinks on ice, Internet access questionable.
So here I sit with v90 dialup for the forseeable future. I don't live in some podunk town where you can throw a rock from end to end. I live in the Greater Los Angeles area. Thanks, ILECs, for killing all the DSL CLECs. Thank you, Los Angeles City Council, for not allowing competition for cable access. Thank you, assholes...I have to suck the Internet through a straw while other friends of mine have a big pipe. Fsck y'all.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Not all AT&T areas block incoming ports. Also, take a close look at your AT&T agreement (it's separate from the @Home agreement). The one I have does not explicitly exclude servers associated with the service, as the @Home TOS does. The question I have is, if @Home is no longer, then can I run servers on my system based on the AT&T TOS?
One interesting aspect of all this is that if you live in an area where incoming ports are blocked by AT&T, and your AT&T TOS doesn't explicitly prohibit personal servers, then how can AT&T justify blocking these ports?
Uh, no I'm not. I work for a company that makes Internet security devices (firewalls, vpns and such). AOL is one of our customers. I've seen the network, and met the people that make the packets go. It's an impressive network.
The unsig!
all of these discussions about at&t, aol, comcast, etc... could all be moot. if aol wants to they could possibbly buy up all the lines they want if they just tell the gov that they'll install backdoors into all of their stuff. even more intrusive then what they already have. think how many users aol has now. nad isn't aol also col and bol as well?
-
In Australia, @Home customer service was provided by the partner (in our case Optus) not @Home. I was under the impression that the US operation was much the same. The guy in the truck was almost certainly from the cable company, not @Home.
--
enterfornone - logging in for a change
Anyone who ever drive along 101, passing by Redwood City, around midnight will know why. They are perhaps the brightest buildings in Redwood City. PG&E bills drove them out of business for sure!