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AT&T Broadband To Merge With Comcast Cable
quualudes was one of the many people to
submit the AT&T Broadband/Comcast merger. CNNfn has more of the story as well. 72$ billion is the cost. Wow. I wonder how this affects @Home. One alert reader also submitted the news that Comcast will evidently by launching a video gaming channel - more information will be coming in February 2002.
Brought or Bought?
How to Download YouTube Videos
http://www.att.com/press/item/0,1354,4135,00.html
Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
Well, at least service can't get any worse than it already is.
Since they went bankrupt. Now it's AT&T Broadband Internet. They've already changed my email address and throttled down my bandwidth. I hope it doesn't get worse.
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
Dammit, I switched to cable to get away from the chaos in DSL-land!
Praise Murphy for he has saved me from having my cable modem taken over by AOL or Microsoft! All give praise to Murphy, for he has not forsaken us. Praise may also be given that I don't have to look at satelite service.
I don't think it affects @Home at all. I used to have @Home but AT&T Broadband dumped @Home. And so I now have AT&T Broadband, oops make that Comcast. I wonder what Comcast Service Agreement is like.
WhatMeWorry!
Hopefully Comcast will bring the same high quality service it has been known for to this broadband sector.
Myself and 100% of my friends who I know have cable with AT&T are in the process of switching to DSL and dropping AT&T due to the steady degradation of service, culminating in the @Home debacle.
Do Comcast know that AT&T may be about to lose a huge proportion of their customers?
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I work for a company that does business with ATT and once in a while in meetings with management they always say how screwed up they are. Totally different systems for everything. The poor customer service people have to look at numerous systems just to find out what the customer's problem is.
Considering that @Home is closing its doors in a little over 2 months, I doubt it'll have any effect on @Home. The only way it might affect them is if Comcast were to also buy @Home (perhaps so they have a ready-built backbone to trasition customers to).
-NOC Monkey (OOK!) Experience is what allows you to recognize a mistake the second time you make it.
If you're going to be a pedant, at least be original.
Takahashi Rumiko made beats! DON, taku, DON, taku. . .
Comcast issues a more clear statement, saying they had brought AT&T flowers. The type of flowers were thought to be tulips, falling in with the funeral metephor.
Upon further inquiry, it seems AT&T has decided that they really just suck at being a large company and had to split once again, this time under their own influence, into several smaller companies.
If only certain other companies could make the same blundering mistakes to cause large debt requiring spinoffs....
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
C'mon ppl do you care that much?? Every single time there is a posted story u ppl immediatly find *every* spelling and grammar error and post it. Why is it so important that u have to post about it?
"He who laughs last is usually the dumbest kid on the block." - John Lennon
As for the cable business, Comcast can only be an improvement. AT&T service was dismal, but typical of this truly out of date corporate dinosaur.
didn't att buy all the pieces for their broadband empire for $100 billion? now theyre selling it off for $72bil
...that Microsoft gets $5 billion in "preferred securities as part of the deal?"
I guess that is better than AOL Time Warner buying AT&T Broadband.
*sigh*
Is that a joke? @Home is unrelated to this deal. ATT had a minority equity interest in "Excite@Home," the company that went bankrupt. AT&T is just a losing investor there.
"AT&T@Home" was a brand name for @Home service distributed by AT&T Digital Cable, not a corporate entity.
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
The ATTBI service agreement was just about the most restricitve contract I've ever seen at an ISP. You weren't even allowed to post material that would be "considered embarrassing to a reasonable person"! Maybe this merger will make the agreement a little more sensible (and increase the bandwith cap while their at it too!)
The future isn't what it used to be.
Now I guess I'll have only the Home Shopping Network, the weather channel, and the 3 (*3*!) religious-oriented channels left before I can finish posting this. Oh well, time to sell that TV and the TiVo and start reading again ...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
According to the press release on Comcast, AT&T stockholders will receive 0.34 share of Comcast for each share of AT&T they own, which is currently worth about $13.07. AT&T stock is currently selling for about $16-17. Unless there's some radical realignment in stock prices (e.g. Comcast getting hit because of the debt they're acquiring along with the assets), that means there's either some major synergy going on or else the market thinks that the rest of AT&T is worth about $4 :-) Hope it's the former...
is new again...
I used to have Comcast cable television and broadband internet service. When AT&T bought MediaOne, they also acquired the Comcast division that serviced my area. Eventually, the switch was made to calling the service AT&T broadband. I find it somewhat amusing that less than a year later, I'm about to be back on Comcast. AT&T broadband was so bad that I switched back to DSL and abandoned my cable television entirely. All AT&T seemed able to do was remove good channels (WGN Chicago, Speedvision, and some others) and run commercials advertising 5 non-functional customer service phone numbers and about a zillion ads informing paying customers that stealing cable tv is a crime. Maybe Comcast will learn something from AT&T's plans to take over the cable industry. Somehow, I kinda doubt it. At least maybe now I can have decent cable tv again.
Windows is going the way of phlogiston...
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-8236344.html? tag=mn_hd
Just be glad AT&T isn't owned by Enron. http://www.forbes.com/2001/12/05/1205enron.html At least AT&T's employees still have jobs, 401k's and stock options.
This is great news for those individuals like myself who work in the cable television construction industry. AT&T has over 40,000 miles of existing plant that is using 450Mhz equipment that will need upgrading DESPERATELY as more and more people clamor for things like Digital Cable, broadband solutions via coax, etc... Currently most digital cable provision is via 550Mhz equipment and above (with 750 and 860 the standards new deployment). Thus, corporations that have long been subcontractors to Comcast, such as Communications Construction Group will once again have much to do.
Eschew Obfuscation
Crap!
Just when I was hoping my damn connection would get stable. Got a signal to the cable modem a half hour ago after another 6 days outage after the 5 day outage during the excite debacle.
Now what, we gotta change all our settings, e-mail forwarding, accounts, etc.?
Can anyone recommend a high speed internet provider in Chicago that looks stable financially, and provides good service. And, dare I ask, has technicians that know their asses from gopher holes?
Or do I have to use the built-in 56K modem on my new iBook indefinitely?
Whatta pile a horse pucky!
I started with mediaone, which was bought by comcast. Now comcast is changing our email addresses, saying that they are moving our network off @home, but they were outsourcing tech support to ATT already, so essentially we were paying comcast for @home service and ATT support.
Looks like it's all going right to comcast now though so we may yet have one company providing our service.
On the good side - mediaone did an outstanding job setting up the network here (Ann Arbor cable rebuild) and I peak at 2.2Mb/S - if I'm talking to a fast server. Luckily UofMichigan mirrors all the important distributions and I get them at that speed.
Hopefully comcast will not only not fix it if it's not broken, but they will use this as a model for their other cable services elsewhere. 2.2Mb/S isn't ideal broadband, but it's certianly a step in the right direction.
-Adam
If they did, then your life would serve no purpose.
They are giving you a reason to live. To bitch and point out fault.
BTW, you were the ONLY person to notice this spelling error, so we are VERY glad you posted this.
I think it is very funny (as in peculiar) that mergers like this happen. And once this all ends up being some kind of OmniCorp(tm) people start looking around saying that it is terrible that we have another monopoly. I rather fancy the analogy from Demolition Man, where Taco Bell has become the only survivor of the fast food chains.
Shakedown between AOL/Time Warner and ComCast/AT&T anytime soon? Likely to go on for years and cost tramendous amounts of money. Money that the customer will have to pay once the winner has the monopoly...
Or maybe I am just paranoid and this is all not going to happen. But I think it's interesting nevertheless.
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. -Ayn Rand
They REFUSE to sell you anymore bandwidth, no matter what you are willing to pay...
I signed up with MediaOne, which shortly thereafter merged with RoadRunner, which in turn followed pretty quickly into "AT&T Broadband". Now it's going to be ComCast? In that time, things have been on a downward trend, in terms of service and reliability, and the support has gone from not-too-bad, to utterly hopeless (especially since they outsourced to that outfit in Canada).
Anyone know if they are going to make further cuts in service? (ie, speeds, usenet feeds, etc)
but they were outsourcing tech support to ATT already
Who in turn outsource THEIR tech support to the same company who does some FedEx tech support and customer service, among MANY other companies.
I happen to work for the company that is outsourced, and quite frankly - does it really matter if it's outsourced? In fact, AT&T likes our call centre - we do a LOT better than some of the other centres that do tech support for AT&T. And the customers like us too, at least for the better part.
Besides, companies outsourcing customer service and tech support to other companies means that more money can go into providing better service. (At least in theory...)
And lastly, cats and kittens, if you read the story, it's just the cable TV portion of AT&T Broadband. Not the AT&T broadband that does the internet. But I wouldn't doubt that a deal for SOME company to buy out AT&T's Internet business would happen eventually.
Just my 2 cents.
But it does screw their investors. The same guys that kept going to court to prevent@home from going bankrupt and selling out for less than half of what they are owed. It's going to finicially ruin those poor S.O.B.s. They should have took the $327 Million and ran...Now they'll be lucky to walk away with a dollar.
Is this a version of the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' rule? It really makes it hard to keep track of these companies with them exchanging stock and securities the way they do.
My local cable provider Midcontinent decided that they would assume the repsonsibility of running the cable service in our state since @home won't be able to do so. Then I hear all you guys bitchin about how your service is going down the tubes. It makes me feel special, because I haven't noticed one change. We had the same speed/reliability before it changed to @home, and will have it after it changes to AT&T because the company here maintains all the stuff. Its great.
When do you expect to complete the merger with Comcast?
We anticipate that the transition will be completed by nine to 12 months. AT&T Broadband will continue to provide support for your AT&T Broadband Internet service until the merger is complete.
Will my service change in any way?
As an AT&T Broadband Internet customer, you can expect to receive a reliable, fast, always-on connection to the Internet. The changes in our business will not cause service interruptions and, at this time, we anticipate no changes to your service. As we have done in the past, any future changes or enhancements to your service will be announced well in advance.
Will AT&T Broadband Internet move back to the @Home network as a result of the merger with Comcast?
We anticipate no changes to your service. As we have done in the past, any future changes or enhancements to your service will be announced well in advance.
Will my prices increase as a result of this merger?
AT&T Broadband's prices reflect the cost of providing service and operating the business. There are no price increases associated with the announcement of this merger.
Why do you keep changing your brand name?
The Internet business is a rapidly changing and developing industry. Over the past four years, we have worked hard to provide the latest technology and best-in-class service. Companies and brands have changed as there have been mergers, acquisitions and partnerships.
Will my bill change?
Your bill and billing cycle will remain the same for the time being. Any changes to your billing cycle or the appearance of your bill will be announced and explained prior to the change.
Will I have the same contact methods for Customer Care?
Your customer care contacts won't change as a direct result of the planned merger with Comcast. Our Online Customer Support Center will continue to provide chat and e-mail links so you can reach a specialist 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Also, you may call the same phone number for Customer Care, as there are no immediate changes planned for telephone support numbers.
How will you keep me informed of any upcoming changes to my service?
As we have done in the past, any future changes or enhancements to your service will be announced well in advance via your AT&T Broadband Internet e-mail account, direct mail and the Announcements and Updates section of this site.
Will there be any further disruption to my service?
We are committed to providing you with quality and reliable high-speed cable Internet service. The previous disruption to your high-speed cable Internet service was result of Excite@Home's Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing. There are no planned disruptions to your AT&T Broadband service as a result of the proposed merger.
Will my e-mail address change? What about my personal Web page address?
We do not expect any near-term changes that would effect either your AT&T Broadband Internet e-mail address or your Web page address. Down the road, some changes may be necessary. If that occurs, we will notify you well in advance to address any needed changes.
Will my payment method change?
Your current payment via credit card or billing statement payment process will not change as a result of this merger. We will we will notify you well in advance if there are any changes to your payment method.
If I have AT&T Broadband Internet, will I get Comcast service after the merger?
There are no immediate changes to your AT&T Broadband Internet service. At this time, we do not know any details regarding when you might be able to receive the Comcast service. Unless otherwise notified, you will continue to receive AT&T Broadband Internet as your high-speed cable Internet service.
Will my home page change again?
There are no immediate changes to your AT&T Broadband Internet service.
Will I still be able to use my AT&T Broadband Internet log-in information?
There will be no immediate changes to your AT&T Broadband Internet service. At this time, we do not know any details regarding when you might be able to receive the Comcast service. Unless otherwise notified, you should continue to use your AT&T Broadband Internet username and password. As we have done in the past, any future changes or enhancements to your service will be announced well in advance.
Will the minimum system requirements for my computer change again?
We don't anticipate any changes in the minimum system requirements at this time.
Will you be offering any additional features to the service?
Yes, we have several technical trials and market trials underway right now and expect to announce new features beginning next year.
Does this mean that I will finally be able to get high-speed Internet in my neighborhood? I've been waiting for years. (Will the upgrade be any faster?)
We can't give you a specific timeframe for the introduction of high-speed Internet services in your neighborhood. We're working to introduce the service in as many communities as quickly as we can.
Yes, my girlfriend is a BitchX
I've just spent the past year pleading with AT&T Broadband to extend their broadband Internet access just another couple of miles. Looks like I'm gonna have to start all over again.
It both sucks and blows. They rearranged the diverse public interest channels so they could give us, "AT&T 3 - Wicked Cool TV" Comprised of mainly ancient reruns including Gomer Pyle USMC, college football, a home shopping channel they already have on the cable lineup, and as for their "NEWS" well, it looks as if the high school drama club has made the big time.
This summer, I was disconnected on a Tuesday. I called them and after some hemming and hawing on their part, they finally agreed to reconnect me on Friday. I had to call a relative on the state comission that regulates cable TV to get them to move it up a day. I also had this relative get them to credit me for two weeks as recompense for disconnecting me in error. Yes, that's right, AT&T Broadband cut me off in error.
The picture quality on some channels is bad, the volume varies wildly between the satellite programming and locally inserted commercials.
You wait for at least 30 minutes while trying to get someone to answer a phone, oh, and their phone service! Once you've navigated phone menu hell, you listen to crappy music and hear some dweeb tell you to jot down the emergency phone number.
The emergency phone number presents you with exactly the same phone menu hell you get when you dial the regular phone number. And you still wait forever.
Thank Dobbs that the Boston cable TV system has been bought by a real cable TV company.
Someone else can use this here soapbox now.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
Okay... now which of these companies has the best TOS (ie, the most liberal)?
Any predictions about TOS changes for the better or worse?
AT&T is going crazy lately. Trying to buy @Home, dropping @Home, billion dollar mergers. Why? Hopefully they won't decide to raise prices again. They seem to enjoy doing that. Oh yeah, and digital cable TV isn't as good as it sounds.
Of course, I wonder. The article says, "..and leaves AT&T with its shrinking consumer and business long-distance telephone and data operations." Are they TRYING to destroy themselves? Sell a good chunk of the customers! Raise prices! Drop out half our customer's internet service for a week and replace it with slower service! This does not sound like a good company.
As an ATT Broadband subscriber for TV, Internet, and PHONE, I can say that I have been following this case very closely. To sum up the whole bidding wars: its basically AOL vs. MSFT.
.NET, My services, even the Xbox cant be fully used without broadband. Earlier, Bill Gates said he thought the BB market was moving to slowly. If AOL were to get the deal, MSFT's plans would be severly crippled.
AOL was heavily looking into buying the corp which made MSFT very scared. MSFT's entire coming business plans rely on broadband:
MSFT started backing COX and COMCAST in the bidwars. I can say I am thankful that comcast won, even though its basically the least of the two evils (AOL vs. MSFT).
This deal is a lot more important than just ATT. It could play a huge role in both AOL and MSFT's core strategies.
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
Do you have Digital Cable or regular? ATT is pushing digital cable hard and thus cutting back its regular channels.
Digital cable is a pretty good deal though. I get about 300 channels of programming (including all HBO's, cinemax, etc), Cable modem, and local phone line for about $110 a month. not a bad deal.
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
That's almost twice as many as AOL.
;)
So does this mean AOL will finally change their f!@#ing "No Wonder It's Number 1!!" Slogan?!
If so, that makes this merger fine by me
I read all the stories and I still can't figure it out? Is my email domain changing again? home.com -> attbi.com -> urscrewed.com
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
Armstrong's big play when he came into AT&T and bought the Broadband and Wireless businesses and announced the Fixed Wireless development was that AT&T would be able to stop needing the LECs to access a large fraction of US telephone users, saving boatloads of money and creating real competition. (Similarly, the Northpoint DSL buy and the Covad-based DSL services play wiht that.) The technical developments that were needed to make all three-four networks play together were substantial, and they weren't successfully implemented - they got distracted by the Cable Openness political fiasco, and the cable tv networks were a technically bad patchwork instead of an integrated system, and IP telephony technology was much farther away from practical scalable working equipment than they needed to win, but fundamentally they had to get out of the old telco architectural mindsets and the old long distance telephony business mindsets. Doing the job right requires radically changing the architecture and barbequeing their cash cow before somebody else does it - if Armstrong's big gamble had been executed well, they'd have had the bigness they need to make it possible to stick together afterwards, but it didn't happen.
1890s - Many small telephone companies exist in the USA. Calling from coast to coast is a slow, tedious process
1900s - AT&T is formed as a union between the various telephone companies, and becomes "the telephone company"
1900-1983 - AT&T network is built. While originally something only the rich and technically elite and adept have, the telephone soon becomes an fixture in every American home. Enormous technological advances enable faster, more reliable calling. Despite the size and complexity of the AT&T "Bell System", the "One company, universal service" concept enables quick, easy and reliable service coast to coast
1983-84 - AT&T is declared a monopoly and is ordered to divest itself of its local service providers and stick to providing long distance services. While this move created competition, it also created confusion and a general decline in the quality of service provided by long distance carriers and local phone companies. Cost cutting measures result even worse service to the customer. Calling coast to coast can become a slow and tedious process.
1995 - The online world exists in the form of local BBSes and various online networks such as CompuServe, Delphi, GEnie etc. Sending messages and communicating from network to network is a slow and tedious process. The Internet becomes available to the general public, linking up these disconnected resources into one common network, allowing information to pass from network to network easily.
1995-2001 - The Internet, once something only the rich and technically elite and adept have, soon becomes a fixture throughout the world. Enormous technical advances allow faster, more reliable network connections. Despite the Inernet's size, the universal TCP/IP standard ensures quick, reliable information flow between computers around the world.
2002 - AT&T begins purchasing local ISPs and nationwide service providers and soon becomes "the Internet company."
2003 - AT&T is once again declared a monopoly and is ordered to divest itself into separate companies. Individual regional networks form separate from nation and world wide "long haul" networks, giving the customers the choice of who carries their data around the world. Cost cutting measures cause a decline in the quality and reliability of various internet providers.
Any paralells?
-Wembley
I read that Comcast is offering HDTV signals over cable to some customers in PA. Any guesses on if this will get rolled out to AT&T Customers?
I'm a MediaOne, er, no I mean AT&T customer, er, uh, wait, Comcast customer...
I just want to know if I'm still going to be able to keep my blah@mediaone.net address until 2020 when M$ provides my service.
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
I am not on crack, damnit.
offered a little more for @HOME. If they had, they'd probably be solidly on top of the Broadband heap (as well as solidly in debt). Refer to this article for more info.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
Your post needs correction. From the NY Times:
In a deal that would create a cable giant with more than 22 million subscribers, AT&T agreed to sell its broadband unit to Comcast for about $47 billion in stock
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
MS screwed AOL once again :)
I've often heard it said that Nike doesn't sell sneakers, they sell the brand identity feeling that goes with buying $110 worth of rubber, string, and glue. AT&T is simply taking things to the next level: they are a company that doesn't sell anything except to create and "brand" other Fortune 500 companies and spin them off.
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
As much as I moan about the problems that come about from being an AT&T broadband subscriber the one glimer of hope was my good long distance rate. I can not believe AT&T did not cut a deal to keep the phone service portion of AT&T broadband. They have been fighting for years to get local phone service into home accross the nation, but now they are just giving up. It is a shame that so many good business/tech people have lost their jobs in the past year, but a company like AT&T is able to make billion dollar blunders because they are still living off of the wealth and status they gained 30 years ago.
The linked story specifically reads:
AT&T Corp. said it would sell its cable television unit to Comcast Corp. for about $72 billion in stock and debt, creating a massive cable operator with more than 22 million subscribers.
The $72 billion is made up of $47 billion in stock and $20 billion in debt, among some other details.
If another source is telling the story differently, then that's just fine. My comments were and are based upon the story linked in the article.
Generally, yes, this would be true.
/. dorm room:
However, under current crack smoking rules (clearly in force @ s--s-s-s-lashhhhDOT), the only thing you need to be able to do is hammer a keyboard...and not necessarily with your fingers.
A pointed head will have the same effect.
Sign on wall calendar in
"Friday! bill for online ads....buy more crack..."
Comcast has actually grown a lot within the past few years to include a large range of businesses....including the fact that they own majority interests in the philadelpia 76ers and flyers as well as quite a few minor league teams (quite a few with the Baltimore O's)....since I believe that most of AT&T was on the west coast, maybe a whole new region will get to see how bad these teams suck....
On a positive note, I've never had a problem with Comcast's broadband (Still using @home for the time being of course, but none of those annoying bandwith restrictions)
I seriously hope this does not mean the end of my uncappe download speeds. If I get a cap like other ATT users, I'm gonna be pretty mad. Not that long ago, I had no upload cap, and I got 10 times the upload capacity has i have now (I could get 150k/s, thats 1.2 mbps). Seems like no matter what happens things never improve with time. . .
Always a good time to see who owns what
So maybe THIS is why my connection has been down since last night...?
-- Brett
Here in Atlanta AT&T Broadband has been playing a series of ads about cable theft. All well and good, but last week's Atlanta Journal/Constitution had a story about AT&T cutting off legitimate (i.e. paying) users and then having them arrested.
I used to have a cable modem from them (their RoadRunner service) and it *sucked*. Their customer service is equally sucky - just try any of their customer support lines.
Hmmmmm. An organization I that provides sucky service and causes innocent people to be arrested. Sounds like the IRS.
668: Neighbour of the Beast
AT&T sucks. They have managed to purchase a decent cable/broadband company and singlehandedly run it into the ground. Since AT&T's purchase of Mediaone, we've been subjected to increased downtime, crappy digital cable service, slow internet, awful customer service, all with them raising prices across the board. their digital box is the size of a VCR, has no hi-fi outputs (not that it matters, most of the channels are still analog), was designed 4 years ago, and the SLOW ASS interface is worse than my grandma's WebTV.
Crap. I just needed to rant about how much they sucked. Hopefully Comcast can improve the service a little. Personally I'll be happy if they can go for 6 months without changing their name. Since I subscribed, I had MediaOne for about 3 months, my cable was called MediaOne RoadRunner. Then it was AT&T Broadband, with AT&T RoadRunner for internet. Then the Internet was CALLED AT&T@Home, even though it was really the AT&T Broadband Internet network. Now it's called AT&TBI.
If this means that they will start restricting my incoming traffic like AT&T does to many of their customers, I am going to be PISSED.
AOL, owner of CNN/Money, also lost out in its attempt to buy back AT&T's 25.5 percent stake in its Time Warner Entertainment unit, which includes Warner Brothers studios, HBO and its cable operations. That stake will become part of AT&T Comcast...
The largest cable company in the US owns 25% of the second largest cable company in the US.
Will Comcast seriously compete with Warner when it may be in their financial interest not to?
Choice in the market is good, unless they decide it's better for us to have no choice.
I'm much funnier now that I'm a subscriber.
In my area, here in central Iowa (Ames), Mediacom bought AT&T Digital Cable and Broadband, and in many other places around here. What's confusing me is did Mediacom buy out all of AT&T's digital services or just in the midwest? With stories like these, I get confused. I assume the buy-out was semi-local, but how will this affect Mediacom Broadband, formerly AT&T Broadband?
I'm in the same region as you and I absolutely agree, M.One RR was GREAT!
The switchover to comcast has been fairly good, though it looks like I'm now getting TOSed when accessing the local newsservers (which I didn't before).
They announced forthcoming terms of service changes (regarding bandwidth) that were supposed to be posted Dec 10, but are still not up. An email to their tech support on the subject got me into some kind of dante inspired paradox which leaves me forever unanswered and always being passed to someone else.
At least their dial-in cust support is ok.
This stuff with the email addresses is kinda a snafu, but I don't use those addresses anyway...
Ah well...
Pax -- Ob
Watch out for declining service levels! Last week Comcast informed it's @home members that when they migrate to comcast.net in the next couple of weeks, they will no longer have newsgroup access. This not a feature comcast will offer. I wonder if AT&T will bring this to the new company, or will their members also be left out.
you could sit around an masturbate all day long!
to the religious channels?
yes you get analog cable.
The world is switching to Digital cable.
and your richie-rich exclusive "lifestyle neighborhood" will actually have to pay for cable like the rest of us.
quit bitching and pay $60-75 a month like the rest of us.
A good articule in the SF Chronicule about how AT&T used it's power to buy enough stock to force a person on the board of Excite. This person then ordered an upgrade to all equipment that ran into the billions of dollars that bankrupted Excite. Six months latter this person was back working for AT&T. I'm sorry but I forget his name.
Now AT&T cuts bandwidth by a factor of four and still charges me the same. I personally am not going to use AT&T for my phone and I am looking into other ways to get TV. Also because the cable is now at the same speed as DSL I will see about getting a different provider. I would rather pay more and not get F__KED then to pay less and have to bend over.
Comcast is making a really bad first impression on Mediaone users in the Metro-Detroit area: They are only forwarding email from Mediaone accounts for three days to the forced new Comcast accounts. After that, nothing. All the contacts you've made, all the subscriptions to newsletters, all the customers or potential employers looking at your just a week old resumes or business cards or brochures will simply have to wonder where the heck you went. More details in the local Newspaper at Detroit Freepress Hope my access speed doesn't drop too much...
I recently moved from California where I had AT&T Broadband. Unlike most AT&T customers, my experience with Customer Service and installers was fairly painless. The actual Internet service was fast and reliable. Now I live in the Florida panhandle and have Comcast cable and Internet. I waited in line for 2 hours at the mall store to sign up for cable and they still did not install it when I moved in. Comcast Phone Customer Service required waiting for over 2 hours. It is has been 10 days and I still do not have a strong enough signal to stay 'always on' the Internet. Think things will improve with Comcast buying AT&T broadband. HA! The first thing they will do is to change the first 2 channels on your cable QVC since they are the same company...