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A Step Closer (Or Not) To Cable ISP Diversity
Tom Veil writes: "Yahoo! posted a story saying that AT&T Broadband and Comcast have both made agreements to work with other ISPs in order to allow them to provide service through cable systems. The Earthlink/AT&T deal appears to be set at this point, but they haven't received FCC approval. Don't suppose this means we'll be seeing free NetZero cable, but hopefully competition will kick in and make things more affordable for cheapskates like me." Bear in mind that both companies provide cable Internet service and are seeking regulatory approval for a merger. They have good reason to sidestep suspicions that the result would be a strangling monopoly.
I glanced at this the other day and noticed they are allowing Earthlink and AOL in addition to their Road Runner. RR has been really good in this area but it might be interesting to test out earthlink because it is $4/mo cheaper. I just hope I don't get forced into AOL cable though..
At&t has been saying they will open up their network for several years. The name of the project was "Broadband Choice"; and, in fact, I believe it has been tried in both Boulder, Colorado and Boston, MA (although the project name has changed).
Part of the reason for the "strategy" was the Media One merger - and the regulators requesting that AT&T open up their network.
Another reason is that AT&T wants to move away from supporting the end users on things such as email, news, etc. They'd rather concentrate on the network, and let someone else deal with DHCP servers, email servers, etc. (When they were @Home, AT&T was still the first 3 tiers of tech support, and it costs them a large amount of money) Because, let's face it - Many Users Are Dumb.
@Home had an exclusive contract with all the cable providers for 5 years (although @Home went bankrupt a tad early - the contract didn't expire until June 2002). The cable providers had been wanting out of the contract for a while, either to do things on their own, or to open up their network to other ISPs. AT&T could escape the contract in some areas (Boulder and Boston) because the contract was for a certain footprint, and those areas were outside of the footprint.
Incidently, the attbi network is largely WorldNet personnel behind the scenes when it comes to DHCP, email, news, etc. The network itself is run by AT&T Broadband personnel, but the servers and user administration was designed and run by a combination of WorldNet and AT&T Broadband personnel.
While this may be a little off-topic, competition definitly could improve customer service. I'm getting at&t cable internet hooked up, and it's amazing the way at&t operates. Most of their web site doesn't even work correctly, and the tech support leaves much to be desired. One didn't know what NAT was, and if at&t considered it acceptable use. There's no mention of it on their web site. Not to mention the worst automated telephone menu system i've heard in a while. Hopefully the competition will bring prices down as well, as 50 bucks a month is a little steep. Unfortunatly there's not many other options. I suspect it will come down to the fees that other companys will have to pay to use the infrastructure. Otherwise it'll never be a fair competition.