BellSouth V Vonage

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 37

ChrisFix wrote:

http://twcnc.com/road_runner/info/fast.cfm

Road Runner Speeds Increase!
Our core Road Runner service NOW offering up to 5Mbps downstream and 384 Kbps upstream speeds is over 100 times faster than traditional dial-up connections and triple the speed of DSL's Standard package over its high-speed network*. The infrastructure and technology are designed to bring content as close to the consumer as possible, through sophisticated caching servers located at the Regional Data Center or cable headend. This technology provides access to a wide variety of multimedia content without the need to go into the heavily trafficked Internet space.

I don't know where you were going with that, but those TOC's are pretty scary to me. They can change anything at any time they want to and they even have the right to enter your house to inspect.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:34 pm Post subject:

vicmatson wrote:

don't know where you were going with that, but those TOC's are pretty scary to me. They can change anything at any time they want to and they even have the right to enter your house to inspect.

I don't think I've ever had a broadband account where similar provisions were not in place.

The cable company always reserves the right to change stuff whenever they please, and they always reserve the right for home inspection to make sure you aren't "stealing" or reselling service. They rarely do either, but it keeps the sharks (lawyers) happy.

Posts: 233 · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:37 pm Post subject:

Quote:

But it really isn't a free ride - you and I are paying for it. Me, $40 / month to TWC and $25 to Vonage. I don't BitTorrent a single byte, so should I get a refund since I'm not using the same bandwidth as my neighbor? Vonage has to pay for their POP connections as well.

ChrisFix, I must agree. I already pay for the data bandwidth. I still hold that BellSouth is treading in dangerous waters. But, in my opinion, DSL is just a patch until the telcos can figure out what to do next. For example, Verizon has fiber. But fiber is too expensive right now to "fiber" the whole nation. So they are using any route they can to defend what they have left. Meanwhile the rats are jumping ship.

I haven't kept up with BellSouth since I left Georgia long ago, and it looks like I missed their crazy move. I think BellSouth customers should be ringing off the hooks of their state regulators. I still think that they will do more damage than good if they decide to proceed with this crazy idea.

One thing all this craziness does tell me, Voip is eating into their profits! And if they tell you it is just bandwidth then I laugh at them. They sold me a slot of bandwidth that is limited by my cable modem. My daughter's AOL IM application with her camera uses a lot more bandwidth than my Vonage connection. In fact, what are they going to do about my company's VPN?

So far I haven't gotten any flak from my ISP, Time Warner Roadrunner. And I don't expect any. They do offer Roadrunner Premium, but I don't have it. But, I can see avoiding BellSouth as an ISP is going to be on my list when I move back home.

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 37

NateHoy wrote:

vicmatson wrote:

don't know where you were going with that, but those TOC's are pretty scary to me. They can change anything at any time they want to and they even have the right to enter your house to inspect.

I don't think I've ever had a broadband account where similar provisions were not in place.

The cable company always reserves the right to change stuff whenever they please, and they always reserve the right for home inspection to make sure you aren't "stealing" or reselling service. They rarely do either, but it keeps the sharks (lawyers) happy.

The difference for me is the contract. With Comcast I can Walk(Dish) and they know it. With a DSL contract it's no Vonage for me or no phone+bill collectors.

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 37

galion wrote:

Quote:

But it really isn't a free ride - you and I are paying for it. Me, $40 / month to TWC and $25 to Vonage. I don't BitTorrent a single byte, so should I get a refund since I'm not using the same bandwidth as my neighbor? Vonage has to pay for their POP connections as well.

ChrisFix, I must agree. I already pay for the data bandwidth. I still hold that BellSouth is treading in dangerous waters. But, in my opinion, DSL is just a patch until the telcos can figure out what to do next. For example, Verizon has fiber. But fiber is too expensive right now to "fiber" the whole nation. So they are using any route they can to defend what they have left. Meanwhile the rats are jumping ship.

I haven't kept up with BellSouth since I left Georgia long ago, and it looks like I missed their crazy move. I think BellSouth customers should be ringing off the hooks of their state regulators. I still think that they will do more damage than good if they decide to proceed with this crazy idea.

One thing all this craziness does tell me, Voip is eating into their profits! And if they tell you it is just bandwidth then I laugh at them. They sold me a slot of bandwidth that is limited by my cable modem. My daughter's AOL IM application with her camera uses a lot more bandwidth than my Vonage connection. In fact, what are they going to do about my company's VPN?

So far I haven't gotten any flak from my ISP, Time Warner Roadrunner. And I don't expect any. They do offer Roadrunner Premium, but I don't have it. But, I can see avoiding BellSouth as an ISP is going to be on my list when I move back home.

I'm on another BB and they're loving it. BellSouth is offering Cingular customers a $10.00 discount of the total bill. They don't use Voip and don't care. Hell a lot of them don't have a landline.

Posts: 57 · Full Forum Member Joined: Sep 03, 2005 Posts: 57

One point must be brought up is that to have people on Voip service strengthens the loyalty of broadband service providers' customers. You are less likely to cancel broadband service if you have Voip service. That's the grand marketing idea behind the industry's "triple play", soon will be "quad play", strategy.

Posts: 282 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:55 am Post subject:

galion wrote:

One thing all this craziness does tell me, Voip is eating into their profits! And if they tell you it is just bandwidth then I laugh at them. They sold me a slot of bandwidth that is limited by my cable modem. My daughter's AOL IM application with her camera uses a lot more bandwidth than my Vonage connection. In fact, what are they going to do about my company's VPN?

So far I haven't gotten any flak from my ISP, Time Warner Roadrunner. And I don't expect any. They do offer Roadrunner Premium, but I don't have it. But, I can see avoiding BellSouth as an ISP is going to be on my list when I move back home.

All good points. I do a lot of work with Sprint and they have been steadily losing Local customers since 2000. First, broadband killed the growth in second lines for Dial-up, and then there was major attrition of those data lines as people migrated to broadband. Sprint and ILECs in general, catch some of that revenue back in DSL, but more of it left to Cable.
Cell Phones have eaten another hole in the Local business as more and more people are going completely wireless. Here again Sprint catches some of these customers (until the Local company is legally spun off early next year), but the competition is real in this space.
Now Voip is eating another real hole in Local as the Voip independents become bigger (1M + subs for Vonage), and Cable Voip is taking off. TWC alone has over 500K subs and plans on 250K per quarter next year. They only started offering service earlier this year. Even here, Sprint catches some of this revenue as they are providing TWC and several other CableCo's the trunks back to the PSTN.
The net result is most Local phone companies are losing 3% + of their local customers and revenue per year and this adds up to a lot of subs in a few years. Voip is real and all the providers know it - so now it's time for the politics and money grab to begin on this frontier.

Like you, I haven't any issue with TWC - they provide a good service that seems fairly priced. I just hope they stay the course.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:15 am Post subject:

ChrisFix wrote:

Cell Phones have eaten another hole in the Local business as more and more people are going completely wireless. Here again Sprint catches some of these customers (until the Local company is legally spun off early next year), but the competition is real in this space.

I can attest to that. Cell ate one small hole in Kentucky's Bell South service when I wanted to move from one apartment to another, and despite the fact that I had been a good customer for a year, they wanted $75 to make the switch, AND *another* $100 in escrow (on top of the $100 I already had) to make sure I didn't miss a payment. For a customer who had NEVER missed a payment, even though they misdirected my bills twice and I actually had to call THEM for an amount.

AT&T Cellular only wanted my credit card number. Wink

When I moved to Maine, I chose Vonage because:

A) They didn't charge me a ruinous connection fee.
B) They didn't want me to deposit large sums in an escrow account.
C) They didn't want my SSN, mother's maiden name, and retina prints on file in order to get a phone line. Well, OK, the retina prints are exaggerating a bit. (grin)
D) I have to call long distance for most of my calls (I telecommute) and Verizon's long distance rates are pretty high.
E) Vonage gives me advanced voicemail, and free (and working until recently) caller ID and other services.
F) Voip is cheaper.

F was actually the lowest priority. If the telco even offered all of the services that Vonage did, and could do business with me by offering a little trust, I'd probably pay them double what I am paying Vonage just to get a landline that doesn't have all the internet routing issues.

Once the local telcos discover that their copper still gives them an edge on actual phone lines, but that they have to leverage that copper properly and start treating potential customers with courtesy and respect in instead of trying to milk a $75 connection fee for a line that's already run and other bizarre nonsense, they might do a little better. Wink

Posts: 233 · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:50 pm Post subject:

Here is the whole story in a nutshell:
FCC Ruling / Madison River

BellSouth is a much bigger company. Maybe the FCC will help BellSouth offset the national debt. If they cut anyone off I think a nice contribution is in order.

If BellSouth has a problem they should get all their high paid lawyers and consultants to convince the government otherwise. And if they choose that route I hope the people make their voice heard in voting out any elected government official who wants to limit technology.