Here’s something you should know when you order DSL service from AT&T: The
company sells the same speed Internet service at $10, $15 and $20 per month.

— The $14.99 service is called Basic DSL and is the easiest to get. Anyone with
an AT&T landline phone can order it by phone or online.

— The $10 DSL service can be ordered only online, and hundreds of consumers
have had trouble signing up for this, the company’s cheapest-ever DSL. AT&T
says it won’t sell it to anyone who is already an AT&T Internet customer.

— The newest Internet service is called DSL Direct Basic and costs $19.95. It
can be ordered only through an AT&T call center, but some sales reps say they
have never heard of it.

There are four DSL Direct plans; the $19.95 version is the cheapest and
slowest. The Direct plans are the only ones AT&T will sell consumers without
AT&T landlines.

This type of service is known as “naked DSL.”

Each DSL Direct plan costs at least $4 more per month than the same plan for
customers who have AT&T landline phones.

DSL users don’t need a phone; Internet service works fine without one.

AT&T is free to charge the higher prices because Internet rates are unregulated.

As for the $10, $15 and $20 Internet plans described above, all are rated at
the same speed: up to 768 Kbps downstream. That’s too slow for downloading
movies but may be fine for e-mailing or Internet surfing.

Why charge three prices for the same speed?

AT&T spokesman Andy Shaw says customers have different needs. It’s not unusual,
he says, for companies to offer different customers different prices.

AT&T offered $10 DSL reluctantly. The company already was charging higher
prices for Internet service and had no incentive to offer it so cheaply.

As for naked DSL, AT&T wants to sell you as many services as possible:
landline, Internet, cell phone and video. That’s called bundling. Naked lets
consumers avoid bundling by choosing only what they want.

But about a year ago, the Federal Communications Commission required AT&T to
offer the lower-cost services in exchange for approving its purchase of
BellSouth.

AT&T began quietly offering $10 DSL about midyear on its website. AT&T said it
would not provide a phone number or e-mail address for anyone needing help.

By the end of the year, the company also began offering naked DSL. It is
quickly gaining popularity with the growing number of computer users who have
traded landlines for cells.

The FCC is requiring AT&T to offer a naked DSL plan for less than $20. An AT&T
spokesman said last month that consumers shouldn’t sign up for the $19.95
service online or by calling. He told them to go to company stores.

That advice turned out to be wrong, and Savvy received more than a dozen
complaints.

Mindy Lynn Thomason, a financial analyst from St. Charles, hurried to an AT&T
store, where “they told me I could only sign up by calling.”

She called — and reached a sales rep who said he couldn’t help her.

This week, AT&T’s Shaw offered different advice: He said to sign up for the
$19.95 Direct Basic only through a company call center.

That $19.95 plan is AT&T’s cheapest naked DSL service — and the only one for
which the company requires a 12-month contract. The other plans are
month-to-month.

AT&T’s site says to call 1-800-288-2020 to sign up for its more expensive DSL
Direct plans ($23.99 to $38.99.) We reached a sales rep who said he knew
nothing about any such plans and transferred us to 1-800-264-0002.

As first reported by hearusnow.org on the Consumers Union website, AT&T is
asking callers seeking naked DSL to provide their AT&T landline phone number.
We were asked three times.

But consumers who want naked DSL won’t have a landline — and don’t want one.
That’s why they want naked.

“They want to sell you a phone line,” Thomason said after her experience.

She says after nearly a day, she finally connected with a sales rep who signed
her up for AT&T’s $28.99 Direct Pro DSL plan. Service started this week, and
she’s delighted.

But she chides the company for making it so hard: “They do a good job of hiding
it.”

We called AT&T’s Shaw, who responded:

“I apologize. We want everyone who calls in to be a customer. The vast majority
of these orders work. Sometimes we make a mistake, and we try to fix it.”

msorkin@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8347
It’s a real chore to find the unbundled DSL price that’s advertised, but here is the direct link.
http://attsignup.com/att_dsl_for_$10.htm

My first go resulted in the representative saying that the $10 offer was not available to me so I asked to speak with the manager. The manager said the “special offer” was only available in 22 states. I asked him to list them and he gave me the following: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. I asked him why it is only available in those states. He didn’t know. I then told him that I had family in California who would be interested in this DSL price, how do I directly access the AT&T web page that details this “special offer.” He directed me to att.net which uncovered nothing, then to att.com/localhelp which also uncovered nothing, finally he told me to go to newatt.com which redirects you to attfashion.net a site selling shoes. At this point he was getting frustrated and said he would connect me to one of his “DSL specialists” to resolve the matter.

Can you guess what happened? He redirected me back to the main menu of 1-800-967-5363. *sigh* I waited on hold again for another outsourced Indian representative. This lady was armed with a lot of information. She was obviously reading a printed statement and basically said that the $10 offer is only available where BellSouth owns the land lines. Because Verizon owns the land lines in Pennsylvania the service is not available. I asked when the offer would be available to Pennsylvania and she said she did not have that information.

She then tried to sell on the 19.99 DSL offer. No thanks. Much faster than the $10 offer! No thanks. How about AT&T dial up? No thanks. Its very fast with an accelerator! No thanks. Would you like AT&T wireless? I have it already, it sucks and is overpriced. How about adding another line? *CLICK*

That was my experience. I say to hell with AT&T. Although if you’re in one of those 22 states you might be in luck and your best bet is probably ordering it over the phone.

http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/index.html

then look for “Term contract plans available” link just above “Terms and Conditions” at the bottom of the page.