Reach
Out and Torch Someone
 Twelve
months ago the cost of my internet service (DSL) jumped
from $19 a month to $35 a
month. A quick call to AT&T resulted in not only a reduction
of cost to $23 but, as a way of saying "Thanks for being
a customer for over 25 years", a doubling in bandwidth.
A truly rollicking 6Mbps download speed.
Gosh! Thanks, AT&T!
Today I opened my phone bill to discover that the cost of my internet service
had been doubled to $44. A quick call to AT&T resulted in the following
response:
"Nertz to you! Actually, double-nertz!"
After 45 minutes of arguing with Ms. Patronizing Service Representative
I
got
them
to
lower
the
cost
back
to
the original $23
a
month,
but it required cutting my download speed in half, to 3Mbps.
Gosh! Thanks AT&T!
I was about
to say "Fine! Whatever!" when they added "And this will require a
twelve-month
contract with a bazillion dollar cancellation penalty."
I hung up.
As far as internet service goes in America the major providers aren't stringing
that much cable anymore and they damn sure aren't upgrading the present transmission
lines to fiber. What they're doing can only be summed up in one word:
Harvesting.
The major providers have sliced this country into noncompetitive quadrants
and are now reaping the blessing of their monopolies by charging whatever they
like. (Did you know you still pay an extra fee for touch-tone dialing? AT&T
does.)
And
good
luck
finding
an
alternative,
suckers.
Perhaps this sudden rise in prices is a reaction to Google
Fiber, with the major providers seeing the writing on the wall and deciding
to cash in while they still can. Google fiber is effectively banned
from many cities by the phone giants who never met a congressman's palm they
couldn't grease, but
once
it
becomes
more than just a techy meme it's just a matter of time before state congresses
and city elders cave
to public
demand. We can only hope.
For a little unpleasant perspective countries like Japan currently charge 1/12th
the
average
U.S.
internet
cost
while
providing connection speeds fifteen times faster than the national average.
For
those having trouble visualizing the difference imagine getting fifteen Big Macs
for
twenty-five
cents.
'MURCA!
Even more galling, back in the 90s a
bill was passed adding a tax to all
phone service, tax money that was supposed to be plowed back into upgrading DSL
to
real broadband, namely fiber optic
lines.
Instead the
phone companies just changed the rules
to define anything over 200kbs as "broadband", called it a day, and
then
proceeded
to pocket
over
$200 billion dollars. And we're still paying that tax.
I'm still considering my internet options at the moment. Because of a fluke in the
laws AT&T still competes head-to-internet-head with Time Warner here in Dallas,
but
the
word
"compete"
might as well be "banana" when you compare pricing, of which there is little
difference. As
far
as
the amount of leverage
Time Warner provides the average Dallas internet consumer I think Archimedes
would
be
appalled.
I'm actually pissed-off enough at AT&T that I'm considering going pure scorched-Earth
and
dumping
them altogether
and
switching to
a combo of Clear and VOIP.
Incidentally, my troubles pale compared to Beloved Girlfriend. Though she
lives
but a
scant
5
miles
away
from
my
front
door,
she has
the choice of either Verizon, Verizon, or (let me check), oh, yeah... Verizon.
And
they've doubled her internet and home phone rates in the past three years.
For a history of broadband in America please read "Where's
the Broadband in America?"
Rackin-Fracking-Brackin!
=Lefty=
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