Earlier this week, on Monday May 2, AT&T quietly started imposing data caps (or limits) on their DSL Internet customers who are offered low prices as incentives to switch to AT&T. Regular DSL is capped at 150Gb per month and U-Verse DSL (more on that later) is capped at 250Gb per month. You’ll pay $10 per 50Gb extra per month. So much for those “special introductory prices.”
Now, that may seem like a lot of data to consume. However, the increase of video being watched over the Internet using content providers such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Roku, etc. as well as online gaming, could easily make households surpass those limits. This is true especially in western Nevada County in homes that are using DSL service and shutting off satellite service to cut costs. Add in multiple members of the household using the Internet for multiple broadband services, then the bills will start to resemble cell service without plans.
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day. 150Gb of data would be gobbled up by just 3 hours of HD video watching daily alone. Factor in the number of Internet users in your household, plus multiple devices (iPad, smart phones, etc.) using the Internet for varied uses, and you could have the surprise of seeing a huge data bill each month.
Spiral Internet Has No Data Limits on DSL
The good news is that one local Internet Service Provider offers DSL without data limits. Spiral Internet‘s contract with a second-tier provider allows us to provide Spiral DSL service over the AT&T network, but without the limitations AT&T is imposing on its own customers. Spiral offers one competitive ongoing price (as low as $22.95 per month for 1.5 Mbps service), same quality & speed of access, no surprises, no data limits, and no waiting (and waiting) on the phone for AT&T technical support. Just note that AT&T requires non-customers to maintain, at minimum, Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) in order to have DSL with us. This runs about $12 per month with Federal taxes. But BEWARE, do not enable AT&T to switch your service to U-Verse, or you will never be able to switch.
Beware: Switch to U-verse and Have No Choices
AT&T has also quietly rolled out “U-verse” service locally. This is typically a “triple-play” (voice, Internet, TV) service in urban areas, but AT&T does not offer the TV portion here. In areas nearest to the AT&T central offices, the Internet speeds available can be faster, but the phone service is now the same as Vonage or Skype, referred to as VoIP (voice over Internet protocol).
U-verse DSL uses a different connection technology which locks out any other Internet Service Provider from offering customers their DSL service. Once a household switches to U-Verse, then their only DSL provider can be AT&T … forever. It is a closed network. So buyer beware.
AT&T sales staff is aggressively calling local households to switch to U-Verse. If you have a local provider or want to keep your options open, politely say “No, thank you.” You are not required to switch in the foreseeable future.
Spiral Internet actually pays AT&T thousands of dollars per month for the privilege of offering DSL service over their network. In any other line of business, we would be treated as respected partners. Somehow, AT&T sees other ISPs who offer their DSL service as competitors.
In some areas, U-Verse DSL may be the only wired broadband Internet service available. In our under-served rural community, it would be foolish to reject any kind of reliable high-speed Internet service. But AT&T’s U-verse will stifle competition moving forward.
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