SBC CFO jokes: we're out to pillage and plunder the industry

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Whoever wrote that blurb on SBC is blind

The little blurb against SBC is, for the most part, a load of partisan crap, and I must respond. Disclaimer: Yes, I am an SBC DLS customer - I have been for well over a year now.



""SBC's $14.95 per month offer for its "DSL-express" service ? rolled out with much fanfare earlier this year ? is merely an introductory rate, which requires signing a long-term contract with an expensive termination penalty."

Yes, it is a contract just like cell phone providers, but the "introductory rate" part is misleading. When I signed up with SBC for the first time, their "introductory rate" was 29.99 for the basic package and 39.99 for the pro package. I signed up for the pro package. His emphasis of the term "introductory rate" is very misleading though. I'll explain why later.

"Furthermore, subscribers must be new SBC DSL customers, and must purchase the DSL along with the additional cost of SBC telephone service."

That's what SBC's fine print says, but if you call and ask them, they will give the new prices to existing customers. I am one of them, and I've talked to hundreds of others at broadbandreports.com who have gotten the same treatment. I no longer pay 39.99 for my pro package. I now pay 29.99, which is the new "introductory rate". SBC customers who originally signed up for the 29.99 "introductory rate", are now paying the 19.99 or 14.99 "introductory rate", even though they were not existing customers.

As for having to buy SBC's telephone services, SBC was already my phone company upon signing up for DSL service, so I already had all of the necessary services to qualify for their DSL. I'm not giving up my POTS line any time soon, so forgive me if I don't cry over these "evil" bundling practices.

"The connection itself is extremely slow by most standards of "broadband," as it only offers a maximum download speed of 384 kbps."

Wow. Now that is some nice spin. The author conveniently capitalizes on the fact that with DSL the farther away you are from the central office, the lower the speeds your line is able to handle. The author fails to mention that the maximum speed of the package is in fact 1500kbps, and customers who are close enough to the central office to get these 1500kbps, do in fact get 1500kbps.'

My pro package offers "1.5Mbit to 3.0Mbit" downstream. If you asked the author, he surely say that my package offers a maximum of 1.5Mbit - yet in a year and a half I have never gotten below the maximum 3.0Mbit speed in speed tests. The "low" number in these packages is the speed the SBC guarantees every customer will get under the worst (in terms of line quality) circumstances. The reality is that you normally get whatever speed your line can handle, up to the maximum of the package, with DSL.

"When spread out over three years, the true cost of the SBC offer is about $25 per month, not including the cost of the phone line, taxes and other fees. When these additional charges are included, the total cost averages out to well over $40 per month"

Here, the author assumes a myriad of things are all very unlikely.

First the author assumes that after the one year contract is up, the customer will be forced to switch to SBC's higher month to month rates for the next two years. History (SBC?s actions) has already shown this to be dead wrong, and if SBC did decide to shut out existing customers from their special prices, the customer would have every right to simply not renew the contract after one year. I foresee a mass exodus to cable if SBC ever tries to pull this.

Second, the author makes the assumption that the customer is starting out with no POTS line, and doesn't intent on getting one. Though, It may become less common as more people do VOIP, right now, this is an extremely uncommon scenario.

Posted by: toadlife   Posted on: 10/18/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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