Broadband Access Without the Pork?

An anonymous reader writes "Like many consumers nowadays, I find more of my time spent on the internet and various wireless devices (e.g. mobile phone). This has gotten to the point where I basically do not use a landline or cable television anymore, and they are essentially pork on my broadband bill, which further subjects the consumer to all sorts of clandestine fees that aren't disclosed until the first bill arrives and add a non-trivial sum (in my case, nearly 100%) to the monthly rate. However, it seems that all broadband access providers have this stipulation, that an internet customer must first have a basic phone or cable TV service in order to sign on for the internet service. Are there any ISPs that can get around this and still deliver broadband internet service at a competitive rate?"

Comments

Try Dry loop DSL

[Anonymous Coward]

I got dry-loop DSL through AT&T. It was a pain to convince them why, but after the third time I tried what one of the articles on the consumerist recommended - going directly to retention dept - and that got everything rolling. The price is slighly more without phone for same DSL service, but overall without phone line my total bill is less than what it would have been with phone.

dry loop

[rodrigo1979]

If your area is served by AT&T, ask for a dry-loop DSL line.
it's the same thing, just no dial-tone on the line.
I just got the Elite (up to 6Mbps down/ 768Kbps up) for 35.00 a month.

Re:Yeah, there are

[CaptainPatent]

I finally convinced everyone in my apartment to switch...

We're getting a strange "limited or no connectivity" problem now.

Re:(Sigh)

[Yvan256]

Oh come on! Télébec covers ALL the rural areas of Québec!

Re:(Sigh)

[gEvil (beta)]

From the title of the post, I think it's pretty clear that the submitter is from somewhere in the Middle East.

Re:Speakeasy

[harrkev]

in my pricing experiences, which have been many -- naked costs $10 an extra per month regardless of provider.

Not true of waitresses in restaurants. I think that extra service costs a lot more than $10.

Re:Yeah, there are

[freakasor]

The problem isn't that they give you a discount when you order multiple services, it's that the base 'advertised' price is the one you get when you have multiple services. They charge 'extra' when you only get one service. They say High speed internet is only $39.99/month. Then they say, oh yeah, that's only if you already have cable. Otherwise its $49.99/month. The bill shows up as: $39.99 High speed internet $10.00 Fee

Re:Verizon Fios if available

[ConstantiusChlorus]

I have Verizon Fios 10Mbps up / 2 Mbps down

The folks on p2p must really love you...

bigger problem is SPEAKEASY ARE LIARS

[ClioCJS]

Speakeasy specifically told me in pre-sales chats that I could run my DSL line at 100% capacity 24/7, then later harassed me saying I was downloading too much, then after that said "100G per month or you're terminated", then after that terminated me. Then they threatened me with a $300 early termination fee if I didn't talk about it online (yeah right). Then it took a few months to get the money they DID owe me back.