AT&T to offer $20 'naked' DSL service

AT&T TO OFFER $20 'NAKED' DSL SERVICE
[SOURCE: USAToday 1/12, AUTHOR: Leslie Cauley]
Cheaper high-speed Internet service is coming. Within a few months, AT&T is expected to start charging $19.95 a month for "naked" DSL, meaning you don't have to buy any other AT&T service, including phone, to get that rate. It currently charges $45 for a stand-alone broadband subscription. AT&T also is developing $10 DSL for new subscribers who also buy AT&T-branded phone service. AT&T plans to offer both services for at least 30 months. The clock starts as soon as the media giant starts selling them in any of the 22 states where it is the incumbent local phone company, including California, Florida, Illinois and Texas. Why so cheap? Three words: Federal Communications Commission. The FCC, which has broad regulatory control over the U.S. telecommunications industry, recently approved AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth. To get needed votes from the FCC's two Democratic members, AT&T agreed, reluctantly, to offer these DSL bargains. AT&T is required to roll out the $19.95 offer within one year and the $10 rate within six months. Gene Kimmelman, public policy director of Consumers Union, says he expects AT&T to move faster. Under the terms of the FCC agreement, AT&T is required to offer naked DSL for $19.95 in markets that are at least 80% upgraded for broadband. That describes many of AT&T's biggest markets, says Kimmelman, who helped negotiate the settlement. Under the deal, AT&T's cheap DSL products will clock in at 768 kilobits per second. While that's slower than the 1.5 to 3 megabits popular with many U.S. consumers, "it's more than good enough" for Internet telephony, Kimmelman says. As such, he thinks the twin offers could help spur sales of Internet telephony across the USA. "This opens the door for consumers" to pick other local and long-distance providers," Kimmelman says.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-01-15-naked-dsl-usat_x.htm