Shane’s Drivel

Low and behold, the Bellsouth DSL service webpage says, “FastAccess DSL without a voice line is available at several speeds and price plans for qualifying customers. Call 800-626-9149 to order.” A click of the link there and I see…

FastAccess DSL without a voice line is available at several speeds and
price plans for qualifying customers. Call 800-626-9149 to order.
FastAccess DSL Direct 768K: 19.95 per month
FastAccess DSL Direct 1.5M: 37.95 per month
FastAccess DSL Direct 3.0M: 42.95 per month
FastAccess DSL Direct 6.0M: 47.95 per month

I called and got signed up. But not before a long hold time and a fire-and-brimstone sales pitch about how my Directv wasn’t going to work without a phone line (it will). Anyway, I got it.

Wow. No more overpriced decades old dial tone service that I haven’t needed in several years. My grandmother can probably remember the day they got phone service. I will remember the day I got rid of it.

The internet is a great thing. Communication service companies – AT&T, Comcast, etc – are not.

AT&T & Comcast both tout high speed internet service for roughly $30. Yeah, try getting it for that. Oh wait, you have to buy antiquated dial tone service or antiquated cable TV service (I still can’t fathom that the majority of Comcast channels around here aren’t up to 1990’s standard-definition satellite quality) to go with that.

Fortunately there’s a report out that says AT&T, under some FCC mandate, is being forced to sell “naked DSL” (DSL without dial tone/voice service) for 30 months. The price is allegedly $29 for 3Mbbs down and 1.5Mbps up. But AT&T doesn’t advertise this service, nor will they volunteer the information over the phone.

Sign me up. Please. Apparently, its a hush-hush deal. You have to talk to the right people and say the right code words to get it. I’ve been working on this for a day now and I’ll post an update when I’m successful. I’ll take their naked DSL for 30 months. After 30 months, they’ll allegedly force everybody back to bundled DSL+dial tone service.

Hopefully by then, Sprint’s Xohm (wimax) service will be out. Unlike today’s cellular data service which is data hacked into a voice network, Xohm is built from the ground up to carry data. In a nutshell, that service will work similar to wi-fi, only its all setup by Sprint instead of you and the coverage should be as ubiquitous as cell phone coverage. And it should work with any old internet hardware and software. No more hassles getting your gadgets from your one service provider and no more succumbing to asinine ala carte subscription fees for individual things like sending pictures, text messages, or checking weather radar. Want to use it in conjunction with a bonafide wi-fi router for all the devices in your house? Knock yourself out. Want to make voice calls with it? Go sign up for Skype (or Sprint’s surely-to-be-offered voice-over-internet product). Like I said, think wifi with cellular-like coverage.

Is buying from Sprint “sticking it to the man”? Even if you can finally get a one-size-fits-all, device-agnostic,  use-as-many-gadgets-as-you-want, no-bullshit wireless internet service at a naked DSL-like price point? A service like that from a company not named AT&T that allows me to flip my middle finger at the local phone and cable company? Yeah, that’s sticking it to the man.