AT&T = Faster Internet through Phone Lines?

[TheGreatSatan]

Not DSL.

I just talked to this long time electrician with AT&T who claims that they will soon have faster internet than cable through the phone lines and a hell of a lot cheaper too. I know Verizon has been burying fiber optic lines in some cities, but has anyone heard of these AT&T claims? He said no one will have to run new lines to your house since everyone already has a dedicated phone line. Also, when you get cable and your neighbor gets cable and so does his, your signal begins to weaken. AT&T supposedly won't have this problem.

[.Maleficus.]

Verizon's FiOS service (fiber) got PC Magazine's top pick for ISPs. It rated Above Average or better in 7 of 9 categories.

Never heard of AT&T's deal though. Sounds interesting.

[Greco101]

fiber = expensive and hard to get since many neighborhoods don't have it.

[.Maleficus.]

fiber = expensive and hard to get since many neighborhoods don't have it.
Not really.

5Mbps down and 3Mbps up is $42/month with FiOS. Regular DSL with 3Mbps down and 768Kbps up is $30 with Verizon. Comparing down times alone, its about $8.50/MB for FiOS, and $10/MB with DSL. Price : Connection is better with fiber. If it's in your area, it's a good deal.

[Luke122]

AT&T may be talking about the same technology that Rogers is pushing here in Canada. (http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=INTER_LANDING&setLanguage=en)

Very similar to DSL, except that it uses the power lines instead of phone lines.

[SgtM]

AT&T may be talking about the same technology that Rogers is pushing here in Canada. (http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=INTER_LANDING&setLanguage=en)

Very similar to DSL, except that it uses the power lines instead of phone lines.

I think that's where they're heading, but I'm not 100% sure. I would definitely like to be part of the team that implements that at my job though.

I just had another "damn, I wish I could show you guys some of our equipment" moments.

[Quakken]

On a side note, ATnT is pushing its "price for life" plan now.

the funny thing is, the price of internet is only going to go down as internet gets faster, and you get to be locked into a slow, expensive internet package through signing up with a contract. Pretty funny what some companies try to get away with.

Anyway, We're lucky here, we get pretty quick internet over a radio dish that is aimed to a tower up in the mountains. they need to do this more, attach line of sight internet dishes to high places in the country so you can subscribe to a wireless service with a radio dish on your house.

Actually, if there is a high place nearby you and you have a lot of people around you without applicable high speed service, making a service, although hard, may be very profitable. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, hopefully they come out with something over phone line that is faster than dsl, i feel sorry for the people still on 768 kbits.

[Greco101]

Not really.

The only fiber optic service around me is Verizon which... well do I have to even say? haha

It's not really the monthly fee that kills you, it's the initial setup fee :dead:

[TheGreatSatan]

I have Charter Communications for my cable internet. PC Mag recently did a report on the internet providers based on customer opinions and Charter was DEAD LAST

[SgtM]

I have Charter Communications for my cable internet. PC Mag recently did a report on the internet providers based on customer opinions and Charter was DEAD LAST

lol.. Charter isn't known for their quality of service at all. They never have been. Hth they make money is beyond me. I used to provision T3 circuits for them. Not only are they impossible to deal with as a service provider, they are even more impossible to deal with when they become your customer. It would never fail that their circuits would turn into executive escalations because of unrealistic provisioning expectations.

[Crazy Buddhist]

On a side note, ATnT is pushing its "price for life"
Yeah, hopefully they come out with something over phone line that is faster than dsl, i feel sorry for the people still on 768 kbits.

I've been on ADSL2 delivered via telephone for a couple of years. Nominal speed is 24MB down but I am 2 miles from the exchange and get actual downnload speeds varying from 14MB to 18MB and 1.5MB up. Cost is £18 a month ~$36

[Luke122]

WTH have you been? :)

[Crazy Buddhist]

WTH have you been? :)

Moi?

[Quakken]

I've been on ADSL2 delivered via telephone for a couple of years. Nominal speed is 24MB down but I am 2 miles from the exchange and get actual downnload speeds varying from 14MB to 18MB and 1.5MB up. Cost is £18 a month ~$36


Over the phone lines? Why aren't more people doing this?

I've seen your speed before, but I am amazed that's over phone lines. Sweet.

[crenn]

I wish I could get ADSL2 here.... but ADSL2+ is a little faster if I remember correctly.

[Crazy Buddhist]

it is ADSL2+

ADSL varies from 1-2MB as a standard here now up to 8MB. You can get 2MB free with Sky TV for £16 ~$32 /month or 8MB free with your phone if you sign up for an all UK calls pack at £19 a month or all worldwide calls (major destinations) for £20.

We have the most deregulated/competitive telecoms market in the world I believe. $40 for a phone line, all UK landline calls and calls to America, Europe, Australia etc included plus 8MB DSL thrown in for free is a steal.

[crenn]

I remember my father telling me what he was getting... it's unbelievable. I wish Australia would get that type of stuff.... except currently they're too busy arguing over a nation-wide content filter (I won't go into it unless asked)

EDIT: Just a note, my father has moved to England.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Moscow has the best services available I know of. 100MB download and my friend there pays $30 a month. She downloads a 700MB movie in seconds -always under a minute.

[Quakken]

Sweet jesus.

And i thought my internet was good... It seems that capitalism is gouging my family.

[ownaginatious]

Gahh... why can't Canada have good internet :(. All that we have is stupid ass Rogers and their senseless traffic shaping, or DSL which I don't think will ever break the 5Mb/s barrier as standard :(

[Luke122]

I'm really suprised to hear that Moscow has such good internet, though it's honestly about time. I was there in 2000, and all we could get was DIAL UP. Even the connection at the university was struggling to hit 512k.

As far as Canada not having good internet.. I think you should correct that to read, "Rogers doesnt have good internet." I'm on a 5Mb Shaw connection, with a $10/month upgrade to 10Mb, and I occasionally have bursts up to 20Mb.

Soon, they'll be offering a "Nitro" package in my area, 25Mb for $100/month, supposedly unlimited throughput.. I'll put that to the test. ;)

[OvRiDe]

Japan has had those services for a while now. A friend of mines wife is is from there, and she talked him into moving there for a while. This was about 6 years ago, and he said the one saving grace at first was the fact that he had 100Mb service that cost about 40 bucks a month. Of course this was when we were paying 50-60 a month for 1.5Mb service. I found this article from the Washington post, looks like South Korea is really starting to pour on the steam as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801990.html

Median Download Speeds:
Japan 61mbps
S. Korea 46 mbps
Canada 8 mbps
U.S. 2 mbps :(

Fiber cost for Japan
100mbps $36.95
Fiber cost for Washington Metropolis Area
5mbps $39.99