AT&T Answers Critics of DSL Discontinuation

Representatives from AT&T met with Federal Communications Commission staff to answer a Common Cause, Public Knowledge and Next Century Cities letter sent to the FCC claiming AT&T’s decision to grandfather copper-based DSL services – services the groups maintain should not even be considered broadband – somehow underscores the need for full-fledged public utility regulation of broadband. The groups assert that the reclassification of broadband as a Title I service deprives the FCC of oversight of broadband, allowing AT&T “to remove some unknown number of existing DSL connections and replace them with an unknown wireless connection of unknown quality and capacity.” The claim that customers will lose access is patently false. AT&T is grandfathering, not withdrawing copper-based DSL, so existing DSL customer can continue receiving their existing services if they so choose. Beyond that, consumers have, and will continue to have, a variety of fixed and mobile broadband alternatives offering faster speeds – including cable, satellite, mobile, and fixed wireless broadband from AT&T and others.