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Excite@Home & Comcast/AT&T Reach Agreement
whee writes: "Through a $160 million deal, it looks like Comcast users will have Excite@Home supplied access for at least more three months (press release). Comcast anticipates moving existing customers over to a new Comcast-owned and managed network before the new contract expires." As well, it appears that the folks who were using AT&T's brand of Excite@Home are back online - as this press release said. T: CNET also has a story on the 3-way deal.
I don't particularly care for the way this whole excite@home situation has been dealt with on a public relations front. Personally, I had to email my service provider to get information concerning this, and then they suggest things like "Check our website for updates."
I can't do that if I don't have service..
You would think that in an age where people have become dependent on the internet for just about everything that these companies should be obligated to tell you when they are just going to cut you off, or when they really don't know what's going to happen. It's not like you've violated your end of the deal and they have the right to "discontinue service at any time."
PacBell DSL is 1.5Mbit/128, same as the 'new' cable modem experience.
AT&T isn't stupid. They can't provide less than DSL, or they'd lose customers. They can't provide more, or they'd lose money.
1) The $320 million Comcast and Cox (NOT AT&T) are paying @Home will be the last revenue @Home will ever see. Both Comcast and Cox are planning to have their users migrated to their own networks well in advance of the expiration of the 90-day contract term.
2) By flipping the bird to AT&T, @Home lost whatever bargaining leverage it had with them. AT&T said they could have their network up and running in short order, and they appear well on track to do so. I'm one of the disconnected AT&T@Home users, and here in San Mateo CA, we were down for a total of 48 hours. I was back up this morning with full connectivity. (And to all you people whinging about the AWFUL 1.5Mbps download cap, please inform me where you can get T-1 speed for under $50/month and I'll gladly sign up. Didn't think so.)
3) Item 2 above led directly to today's all-hands at @Home where CEO Patti Hart announced that @Home is history after the Comcast and Cox contracts finish on March 1, 2002. AT&T has pulled their bid for the company, and barring a rescue at the 11th hour, @Home will convert their Chapter 11 filing to Chapter 7 in March.
Add them all up, and that's one dead company. Maybe AT&T did put them in this position, but speaking for the subscribers, we really don't care whose fault it was.
As I've said before, the fastest pipe does no good if it's only getting water from a trickling spring.
Their caching techniques will remain, @Home has made its contribution to the infrastructure knowledge base of this I-net thing, and we all move on.
If there is a market, someone will step in to fill it. If it is cheaper for Comcast, ATT, Cox Cablevision and Big Bob's Bait, Tackle & Routing to buy some level of service from an "@Home" style of super ISP, then such a thing will happen again.
@Home's failure doesn't get me down. I worked with many of those same people at different times, the people and their skills remain alive and well and ready to move on to the next project.
How's Juniper stock doing, anyway?
Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.
Bob-
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
AT&T was probablly the only possible savior for @Home. It looks like @Home was probablly expecing AT&T to offer more money for them and called AT&T's bluff. However AT&T was not bluffing.
AT&T and the smaller cable compaies that have left @Home represented about half of @Home's subscribers. @Home is gone. AT&T no longer wants it (they pulled their offer to buy).
The @Home bondholders shot themselves in the foot by stopping the AT&T bid. NO WAY will they get the $300 million that AT&T was offering now. As soon as the other cable companies build their own networks, @Home becomes worthless. In fact, it is worthless right now. All that @Home has going for it is its assets (buildings and equipment) and those will go for pennies on the dollar.
Does anyone want some cheap network equipment?
Um, well, first... that press release doesn't say that everyone is back on-line... in fact, it's a release from Saturday. Here, it's Tuesday. Can Hemos read??
Second, since I am an ATT Broadband customer in Chicago, sitting here dialed in using a 56k modem, I can assure you that ATT customers are *not* all back on-line. Contrary to the attitude in SF, the bay area does not constitute the entire world...
The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun, with Coca-cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun.
I was paying $1500.00 a month for a T1 into my company what does that give me? a static IP range and the right to set up internet servers.
More than 384k upstream.