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I_W · 06-14-2002, 12:53 AM

I also am an ATTBI.COM customer, having been forced to them with the Excite@home fiasco. In general the speeds have been what they promised though about 1/3 of what I was promised when I signed up and @home was the provider. There has been talk about the rate changes on several of the high speed oriented boards for the past month. It's unfortunate that you didn't happen onto some of those discussions. I too received the notice (2 for some reason) in the mail yesterday.

I bought a cable modem about 6 months ago and ended up with it being amortized over 7 months as I was fortunate to get a good deal AND a rebate by buying in a 2 day period when both were in effect - I think the store forgot to change the price UP when the rebate went into effect at the end of a sale they were running. I also prepaid a year which meant paying for 11 months and getting the 12th month free. That meant that I locked in the existing rate as I was afraid of a price increase.

You might want to ask it that's possible for you at the pre increase rate. It would at least give you a year instead of a half year of the old rate and a discount of 1/12th with the free month.

I noticed on another site today that the Best Data modem that I have (CMX110) is available for $30 or $40 after rebate right now. I don't remember the vendor selling it for that. At that price you'd amortize it over 10 to 13 months. It looks as though the bottom is dropping out of the cable modem market as I've never seen it for less than the $70 that I ended up paying for mine.

I have no other options unfortunately as DSL isn't available where I am and Sprint wireless service though available for a few months stopped accepting new customers and though I see several of their antennas still up I have no idea if they're even still in business.

With the likely sale of ATTBI (to Comcast is it?) just waiting regulatory approval we're apt to be stuck with some other changes whether or not we like it. There have been rumors of tiered rates going into effect as well. Maybe we'll at least be lucky and have the same data rate we now have for the same price rather than getting dropped by as much as 3 to 5X in data rate as happened when @home was dropped and we were forced to attbi.

I'm afraid it's typical of what happens when competition disappears and there is a consolidation of the marketplace. The public suffers and the companies raise their rates without restraint.

06-14-2002, 12:53 AM	#4 (permalink)
I_W Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 1,178	I also am an ATTBI.COM customer, having been forced to them with the Excite@home fiasco. In general the speeds have been what they promised though about 1/3 of what I was promised when I signed up and @home was the provider. There has been talk about the rate changes on several of the high speed oriented boards for the past month. It's unfortunate that you didn't happen onto some of those discussions. I too received the notice (2 for some reason) in the mail yesterday. I bought a cable modem about 6 months ago and ended up with it being amortized over 7 months as I was fortunate to get a good deal AND a rebate by buying in a 2 day period when both were in effect - I think the store forgot to change the price UP when the rebate went into effect at the end of a sale they were running. I also prepaid a year which meant paying for 11 months and getting the 12th month free. That meant that I locked in the existing rate as I was afraid of a price increase. You might want to ask it that's possible for you at the pre increase rate. It would at least give you a year instead of a half year of the old rate and a discount of 1/12th with the free month. I noticed on another site today that the Best Data modem that I have (CMX110) is available for $30 or $40 after rebate right now. I don't remember the vendor selling it for that. At that price you'd amortize it over 10 to 13 months. It looks as though the bottom is dropping out of the cable modem market as I've never seen it for less than the $70 that I ended up paying for mine. I have no other options unfortunately as DSL isn't available where I am and Sprint wireless service though available for a few months stopped accepting new customers and though I see several of their antennas still up I have no idea if they're even still in business. With the likely sale of ATTBI (to Comcast is it?) just waiting regulatory approval we're apt to be stuck with some other changes whether or not we like it. There have been rumors of tiered rates going into effect as well. Maybe we'll at least be lucky and have the same data rate we now have for the same price rather than getting dropped by as much as 3 to 5X in data rate as happened when @home was dropped and we were forced to attbi. I'm afraid it's typical of what happens when competition disappears and there is a consolidation of the marketplace. The public suffers and the companies raise their rates without restraint.