The Chronicles of…

AT&T CEO: Force Bundling DSL/Landline Is So Lame
Force bundling DSL/wireless is where it’s at….
10:54AM Thursday Sep 13 2007 by Karl

tags: dsl·business·Op/Ed·telco·consumers·AT&T Midwest

Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of opinions from the telcos (and their employees posting to our forums) as to why they couldn’t provide DSL and local service independently. Some, if you remember, claimed it was illegal to do so. Others spent considerable energy claiming it was technically impossible. Some execs insisted existing lines would oxidize and the network would fail should dry loop DSL be offered.

As phone industry denials continued, complaints increased about DSL customers having their broadband service disconnected if they tried to move their local phone service to another provider. Then, in 2004, Qwest began offering naked DSL. And guess what? The world didn’t end. Nobody was arrested. And last we checked, Qwest’s lines are doing just fine. Yet, AT&T and Verizon still refused to offer it.

There was still good money to be made in forcing customers to buy dubious fee-packed landline service if they wanted broadband. Now, apparently, the landline losses have gotten so bad that even these slow-moving giants feel it’s time to adapt. They’ve waited so long, many of their college-age customers have never even used a copper landline.

So, many years later, it’s nice to see AT&T’s new CEO Randall Stephenson jump on board, telling USAToday this week that sales "have jumped" now that the company has started offering 1.5Mbps dry loop DSL & 450 wireless minutes for $60 in seven markets as a trial run. People like it.

"We’re freeing our broadband customers from having to buy an access line (regular phone service)," says new AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who insists AT&T will "blow this out over our entire footprint." According to Stephenson, forced bundling "is an old mind-set. We need to get over it."

So, uh, not to be a party pooper since we are making progress, but aren’t you now essentially forcing customers to bundle wireless service? If AT&T really believes that it’s time to shake off the old "telco think," they should soon start offering all of their speed tiers without forcing you to bundle local service or wireless — right?