AT&T wooing EchoStar

joeturn2000 writes:
On Oct 1, 12:08 pm, Jeff Burris wrote:
And after all the breaking up and recombining, they still have
monopolistic practices.

We are still paying an extra fee for touch tone service (DTMF dialing)
that became available in the early 60s. If there were true competition,
features like this would be included in the basic service!

--
Jeff Burris
at&t (SBC) customer
Salina, Kansas

What if it was echostars only way out of bankruotcy?? FTA has put all
DBS stations in jepordy! DTV use to have 10,000,000 customers now they
have 4.2mil! Echostar now is furnishing FTA/DVB compliant free TV.So
dumping the high powered sats on AT&T is a joke! The lower powered
sats that require Big Ugly Dishes can be regulated by law as not to be
seen on property without a sub!So microwaving tv via telephone might
be feasible that way! So why allow echostar into the picture when
local programming is all they could charge for$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Could you explain the alphabet soup so that someone can understand
your point? FTA? DVB?

Todd Allcock wrote:
At 03 Oct 2007 00:21:54 +0000 Chris Adams wrote:

You do realize that the ILECs use fiber to the neighborhood in many
places, and just have a bank of batteries in the hut/cabinet? When
the
batteries run out, so does your POTS -48VDC, just the same as cable
(who
also uses batteries in the neighborhood). I'm in old BellSouth land,

and around here, they installed natural gas generators along side
many
of the fiber cabinets, but that is rare.

The guaranteed reliable service on POTS is pretty much a thing of
the
past. Given the number of people that only have cordless phones in
their home, nobody is really complaining.


I'm 41 years old. Never in my life have I picked up a wired phone
and not had a dialtone (that wasn't my fault!) Even when electrical
power has been out for 2-3 days.


I could almost say the same thing, but just a couple of years ago, we
were without a dial-tone for almost 2 days.

Was it during a power failure?
"Steve Jenkins" wrote in message
news[email protected]
Todd Allcock wrote:
At 03 Oct 2007 00:21:54 +0000 Chris Adams wrote:

You do realize that the ILECs use fiber to the neighborhood in many
places, and just have a bank of batteries in the hut/cabinet? When
the
batteries run out, so does your POTS -48VDC, just the same as cable
(who
also uses batteries in the neighborhood). I'm in old BellSouth land,

and around here, they installed natural gas generators along side
many
of the fiber cabinets, but that is rare.

The guaranteed reliable service on POTS is pretty much a thing of
the
past. Given the number of people that only have cordless phones in
their home, nobody is really complaining.


I'm 41 years old. Never in my life have I picked up a wired phone
and not had a dialtone (that wasn't my fault!) Even when electrical
power has been out for 2-3 days.


I could almost say the same thing, but just a couple of years ago, we were
without a dial-tone for almost 2 days.

No.
GB wrote:
Was it during a power failure?
"Steve Jenkins" wrote in message
news[email protected]
Todd Allcock wrote:
At 03 Oct 2007 00:21:54 +0000 Chris Adams wrote:

You do realize that the ILECs use fiber to the neighborhood in many
places, and just have a bank of batteries in the hut/cabinet? When
the
batteries run out, so does your POTS -48VDC, just the same as cable
(who
also uses batteries in the neighborhood). I'm in old BellSouth land,
and around here, they installed natural gas generators along side
many
of the fiber cabinets, but that is rare.

The guaranteed reliable service on POTS is pretty much a thing of
the
past. Given the number of people that only have cordless phones in
their home, nobody is really complaining.

I'm 41 years old. Never in my life have I picked up a wired phone
and not had a dialtone (that wasn't my fault!) Even when electrical
power has been out for 2-3 days.


I could almost say the same thing, but just a couple of years ago, we were
without a dial-tone for almost 2 days.

No, power was not out at all.
GB wrote:
Was it during a power failure?
"Steve Jenkins" wrote in message
news[email protected]
Todd Allcock wrote:
At 03 Oct 2007 00:21:54 +0000 Chris Adams wrote:

You do realize that the ILECs use fiber to the neighborhood in many
places, and just have a bank of batteries in the hut/cabinet? When
the
batteries run out, so does your POTS -48VDC, just the same as cable
(who
also uses batteries in the neighborhood). I'm in old BellSouth land,
and around here, they installed natural gas generators along side
many
of the fiber cabinets, but that is rare.

The guaranteed reliable service on POTS is pretty much a thing of
the
past. Given the number of people that only have cordless phones in
their home, nobody is really complaining.

I'm 41 years old. Never in my life have I picked up a wired phone
and not had a dialtone (that wasn't my fault!) Even when electrical
power has been out for 2-3 days.


I could almost say the same thing, but just a couple of years ago, we were
without a dial-tone for almost 2 days.

Todd Allcock wrote:
I'm 41 years old. Never in my life have I picked up a wired phone
and not had a dialtone (that wasn't my fault!) Even when electrical
power has been out for 2-3 days.

It's happened to me. The wires were in a box atop a pole, and my pair was
apparently the most convenient in the box to clip a butt pack to. One guy
clipped on one day and one wire broke. The guy got all upset when I wanted
him to stay after 5 PM and fix what he broke... but I have to hand it to
him, he did stay and fix it.

--
One phrase that explains 99% of all idiot driving:
"You can't block traffic if you're not in the way."

Todd Allcock wrote:

At 01 Oct 2007 11:08:25 -0500 Jeff Burris wrote:

And after all the breaking up and recombining, they still have
monopolistic practices.

We are still paying an extra fee for touch tone service (DTMF
dialing) that became available in the early 60s.


Cable TV was available in the 60's too, and they still charge for it
today. ;-)

I suspect your on a "grandfathered" rate of some kind, while current
(probably more expensive) plans include touch-tone service.


If there were true competition, features like this would be
included in the basic service!


Probably, but I'll nevr understand people's annoyance with line
listing items. Would it really make you feel better if your $20
service was $20 with "free" DTMF, vs. $19 for the line and $1 for
DTMF?

Call their bluff and have the DTMF taken off to save a buck or two-
in this day and age the DTMF might still work anyway, and, if not,
just flip your phones to pulse mode if quicker dialing isn't worth
the extra money! Paying for features separately is an advantage, IMO,
because you can save money by removing what you don't want/need. My
Qwest line comes with a bunch of crap I don't want or use, but it's
all "included" so shutting any of it off doesn't save me any money.


I understand your point. It may be nice to get everything ala carte so
you can "turn off" what you don't need. But in this day and age, DTMF
should not be an option. They should just do away with supporting pulse
dialing and save money on their end.

Having the ability to choose caller ID, call waiting, etc. individually
is nice, but now with a lot of VOIP providers including all of those,
the big telcos may have to soon enough.

--
Jeff Burris
Salina, Kansas

At 04 Oct 2007 10:19:52 -0500 Jeff Burris wrote:

in this day and age, DTMF should not be an option. They should just
do away with supporting pulse dialing and save money on their end.


But then how would you impress your friends at parties by dialing
their cellphone by only tapping a switchhook? ;-)

Having the ability to choose caller ID, call waiting, etc.
individually is nice, but now with a lot of VOIP providers
including all of those, the big telcos may have to soon enough.


Mine already does, sort of. Qwest bundles options into packages. I
get the usual nonsense (CID, Call forwarding, call waiting, 3-way,
etc.) for $25. No added features would be $20, and individually
they're $3-5 each, so the package is more economical than basic
service with just a feature or two.


--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

UCLAN wrote:
Bob M wrote:

And AT&T needs to be broken up again.

It is nowhere near a monopoloy, so I whole heartedly disagree.

And that's your opinion. I have been screwed by AT&T recently and I
hate them. If I want a land line they are the only available option in
my area. It is my opinion they need to be broken up again.

And were there multiple land line vendors in your area when they were
"broken up" ?? No. And there won't be just because they are "broken up"
again. Your "problem" will be unchanged.

Actually yes there were. There were 3 until the "New AT&T" bought them up.

Bob

Todd Allcock wrote:


Call their bluff and have the DTMF taken off to save a buck or two-
in this day and age the DTMF might still work anyway, and, if not,
just flip your phones to pulse mode if quicker dialing isn't worth
the extra money!

I never call anyone with my land line, except may Pizza Hut. And you
better belive dialing time is critical when I make that call!

Speaking of line item charges, you or someone else mentioned in this
thread, it's a real pet peave of mine when the airlines started adding a
fuel surcharge to the ticket prices. Schwann's food delivery service
started doing the same thing lately.

Weren't they always buying fuel? It's a part of the cost of providing
the service. Are we going to have a Pilot's Salary surcharge? A Cabin
Cleaning surcharge? Rediculous (and way off topic).

--
Jeff Burris
Salina, Kansas