Death Knell For Dialup? DSL Now Cheaper Than Dialup

from the have-fun,-AOL dept

Thu, Oct 28th 2004 9:01am — Mike Masnick

Get the idea that SBC has figured out how this whole "bundling" equation works? As reports trickle out about how bundling on telco/broadband/voice/video type services reduces customer churn by a tremendous amount, SBC has been making a variety of moves recently to jump on this train as quickly as possible. They claim they're moving to fiber to let them offer video (we'll believe it when we're connected to it), then they practically give away WiFi to DSL customers, and now they've reduced the price of DSL to $20 for certain phone service customers. Of course, it won't come as a surprise that the phone service you need to sign up for is a bit more expensive (and nearly double many VoIP rates), and the speeds offered are a bit slower than their regular rates, but it's still quite fast for those who've never had a high speed connection (exactly who SBC is targeting). That targeting brings up the next point. Broadband Reports points out that, at $20/month, this DSL offer is noticeably cheaper than popular dialup plans from AOL and Earthlink -- making them wonder if dialup is finally going to fade away.

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Steve Hallmark, 28 Oct 2004 @ 12:00pm

End of Dial Up
One remaining barrier to a complete shift is that small businesses and people who move frequently don't want to change their e-mail address for fear of loss of customers/contacts. This means that many will pay for two services: dialup to keep the address + the best cable connection they can get.
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Cigamit, 28 Oct 2004 @ 12:56pm

Dialup fading?
Dialup isn't going to fade away completely until cost effective solutions are offered to the folk a little further from the city. Where I live, my only options are dialup ($10/month), satelite ($60/month 768Kbs down, 56Kbs up with 3000 MS latency, $200 installation), wireless ($50/month almost in range but not quite, 256Kbs Up / 128Kbs down, $250 installation).

Of the 3, the only cost effective one is the dialup. The others are either priced way of league (the wireless), or are so terrible performance wise (satelite), that I would rather stick to dialup.

Fading? Naa... maybe a little discoloration, but not completely fading.
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Standed, 28 Oct 2004 @ 3:33pm

No Subject Given
My options: dial-up for $20, cable-modem for $83/mo, or satellite for $50/mo with $800 installation. No DSL available here.
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