AT&T shelving DSL may leave hundreds of thousands hanging by a phone line

On Oct. 1, AT&T stopped selling digital-subscriber-line (DSL) connections, stranding many existing subscribers on those low-speed links and leaving new residents of DSL-only areas without any wired broadband. “We’re beginning to phase out outdated services like DSL and new orders for the service will no longer be supported after October 1,” a corporate statement sent beforehand read. “Current DSL customers will be able to continue their existing service or where possible upgrade to our 100% fiber network.”

DSL – a broadband connection delivered over old copper telephone lines – is no prize at AT&T. The company doesn’t sell downloads faster than 6 Mbps, less than a fourth of the 25-Mbps minimum definition of the Federal Communications Commission and further cramps their utility with stringent data caps of just 150 gigabytes. But the technology that provided many people their first real broadband still works to provide an always-on connection and far more capacity than satellite connectivity.  

Verizon and such smaller telecom firms as Lumen (formerly CenturyLink) and Frontier have not announced plans to sunset their own DSL. That’s a good thing for the potentially 3 to 6% of the US that is estimated can only get wired broadband via this technology, even if such fixed-wireless ventures as Verizon’s just-announced expansion of its unlimited-data LTE Home Internet service to some rural areas across 48 states give more people more choices.

But for those customers to get faster connections, providers can’t neglect their networks. “When I was at the FCC, there was actually hope that DSL technology could be improved to provide actual high speed broadband,” said Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate Gigi Sohn. “If I recall correctly, the companies were making promises of speeds around 25 Mbps or even higher.”