Qwest Launches Tiered Services, Naked DSL
from the turning-things-around? dept
An anonymous Qwest employee wrote in to mention that the company is announcing plans to offer “naked DSL” – that is, DSL without requiring local phone service. This is a big deal. We’ve been complaining about DSL companies requiring that you have local phone service with them to get DSL. Obviously, the advantages to them are that they get more out of you – but as an increasingly tech savvy population is ditching landlines for VoIP or cellular phones, this policy was only pushing people to go to cable instead. Qwest, who has not had the greatest reputation for service over the past few years, appears to be trying to turn this around and go after the market of folks who don’t want to be tied down to a landline phone number they won’t want or use. They’re also announcing a new tiered offering including the incredibly cheap $15/month plan – that caps bandwidth at 256k. Not that fast, but for those who just want an always on connection, it’s a steal. This is clearly going directly after the dialup user who hasn’t decided to upgrade yet, but now has almost no excuse not to.
Comments on “Qwest Launches Tiered Services, Naked DSL”
Naked DSL
Truth is, I and others would have bought DSL in an instant if it were available out in the boondocks, which it isn’t.
We have used the internet for seven years now, and the local phone company has made little effort to reach the “last mile.”
Effort is under way to get that last mile by other means, so the phone company had better get with it, or they will find themselves downsized.
Re: Naked DSL
i’m the anonymous qwest employee…the problem with provisioning dsl in the boondocks is the cost. you’re looking at roughly $75k-$100 to add a remote terminal to serve those locations. that’s a lot of dsl at $15 bucks a pop just to recover costs, let alone make a profit and pay my salary.
Re: Re: Naked DSL
Mike,
Is it really “naked” DSL that Qwest is working on??? I thought the $15 DSL was “without ISP”. Without ISP is a lot different than without required phone line.
Ashley
Re: Re: Re: Naked DSL
(the qwest guy) ‘naked’ means something else to us. to us, ‘naked’ means no isp. to techdirt-mike (if i might speak for him) it means dsl without pots. if you order our dsl for $15, you can add on our basic isp service (no email or web space) for $6.99. still cheaper than aol!
This is great news
I had “naked” DSL for a couple of years, originally through Telocity, and then DirecTV-DSL who bought out Telocity.
When DT-DSL decided to go out of business, they tried get everyone provisioned with SBC-Yahoo! DSL, as SBC was providing the last link between us and the internet already.
When I called SBC to make the transition, they wouldn’t sign me up because they only offer DSL to existing SBC phone customers. It didn’t matter that I already had the lines run between the telco and my house, it didn’t matter that the connection was going through SBC and was working at that very minute – if I didn’t want to switch my home phone system to SBC, they COULD NOT and WOULD NOT provide me with DSL service.
I called the cable company and had cable modem access before DT-DSL quit gasping and choking and have been pretty darn happy with it so far.
Law for the corporations Qwest for one
“…Because, we’re told, the bill’s good for us. Competition lowers prices. Really? Qwest lobbies legislators to reduce its prices and profits? I don’t think so. As AT&T’s CEO told Wall Street, “it’s going to be a war of value and services,” not prices….” One would do well to read Nicholas Johnson’s complete article in the ILF Post–a blog of the International Leadership Forum, a nonprofit internet based think tank.