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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.
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
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!
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
FINALLY, YOU AGREE TO DEFEND, INDEMNIFY, AND HOLD HARMLESS AT&T AND THIRD PARTIES WHO CONTRIBUTE TO THE AT&T WORLDNET HIGH SPEED SERVICE BLAH BLAH BLAH I'M SO STUFFY GIVE ME A SCONE
Believe it or not, this is completely typical stuff probably cut-and-pasted out of a boilerplate terms and conditions for commercial service document.
Any time you sign up for any kind of service, from telephone all the way up to managed technical support like my company sells, you're told in the sales contract that you're waiving your rights to sue in case something goes wrong. It's right up there with the "no warranty express or implied, including guarantee of merchantability or fitness of purpose" language that goes in every software license agreement.
It's the company's way of saying, "Just because we're providing you with this product or service, don't think we're accepting the full and permanent responsibility for any deranged misuses of our product or service that you might think of with your sick little mind."
So if you violate the AT&T terms and conditions and they shut off your connection, thereby costing you umpteen million boxtops in lost business from your work-from-home pyramid scheme web site, don't think you can run to your lawyer and claim damages.
On the other hand, if AT&T violates their end of the bargain in any way-- although I can't think of an example; those T&C documents are usually pretty well written-- you still have all those rights and privileges that flesh is heir to.
So don't get all huffy about these conditions. They're nothing new or unusual.