Are we still an anti-trust country: the Bush doctrine of No Money Left Behind

[QCao009@aol.com]

AT&T quietly offers $10 DSL plan 
 
 
_http://news.http://newhttp://news.<Whttp://nehttp://newshttp://nehttp://news.
<WBRhttp://news._ 
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070618/ap_on_hi_te/at_t_10_dsl;_ylt=AopkGdgXUjkNgje0jTMAyCoE1vAI)   
By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer 1 hour, 11 minutes ago  


NEW YORK - Without any sort of fanfare, AT&T Inc. has started offering a  
broadband Internet service for $10 a month, cheaper than any advertised  plan
 
The DSL, or digital subscriber line, plan introduced Saturday is part of the  
concessions made by AT&T to the _Federal Communications Commission_ 
(http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Federal+Communications+Commission)  to get 
its $86  billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. approved last December. 
The $10 offer is available to customers in the 22-state AT&T service  region, 
which includes former BellSouth areas, who have never had AT&T or  BellSouth 
broadband, spokesman Michael Coe confirmed Monday. Local phone service  and a 
one-year contract are required. The modem is free. 
The plan was not mentioned in a Friday news release about AT&T's DSL  plans, 
and is slightly hidden on the AT&T Web site. A page describing DSL  options 
doesn't mention it, but clicking a link for "Term contract plans"  reveals it. 
It's also presented to customers who go into the application  process, Coe 
said. 
The service provides download speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and  
upload speeds of up to 128 kbps, matching the speeds of the cheapest advertised  
AT&T plan, which costs $19.95 per month in the nine-state former BellSouth  
area and $14.99 in the 13 states covered by AT&T before the acquisition. 
BellSouth generally had higher prices for DSL before it was acquired, and the 
 price difference persists, though AT&T did cut the price of the cheapest  
advertised plan in the Southeast region by $5 from $24.95 on Saturday. 
The agreement with the FCC required the company to offer the plan for at  
least 2 1/2 years. Coe said he could not comment on future advertising plans for  
the offer. 
The introduction of the plan, slightly before the deadline at the end of  
June, was first reported by The Tennessean in Nashville. 
Another concession to the FCC is yet to come: a plan for DSL that doesn't  
require local phone service. AT&T has another six months to introduce that  
option, which should cost at most $19.95 per month. 
Consumer advocates have fought for this so-called "naked DSL plan," because  
DSL can carry Internet-based phone calls for less than the price of local 
phone  service. However, at 768 kbps, the download speed may be too low to appeal 
to  the relatively sophisticated customers who use the Internet for phone  
calls.



************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.