Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sometimes Consumers Give Me a Rash

While house hunting here in Tampa, many owners (guys) told me that they had FiOS. Wow! To me that was a reason to NOT buy the house - No Copper. Boy, are these knuckleheads going to be sorry when those introductory rates end next year. (Right now, triple play is $99 to $125 + fees and taxes).

Then there is this letter to the editor of the Miami Herald:

We, too, can't seem to get BellSouth/AT&T DSL • We, too, live on the outskirts of Homestead (Action Line, June 4), and every home on our block and the blocks to the north and south are all DSL-ready -- but not us. After numerous calls to BellSouth, we've gotten nowhere. All they tell us is that we're just not ready. Funny thing is that we used to live three houses down the road and had BellSouth DSL; when we moved, I thought I would be able to just hook up my DSL and be done with it. Although we like Comcast, our current cable internet provider, the cost would be greatly reduce if we had BellSouth (now AT&T) DSL.

So for some consumers, it is all about the price. (About 35% according to most studies). And it must depend on the market, because in Tampa, most small biz use cable service (BrightHouse) for internet at $90. More than VZ DSL by double. And BH has taken about 75,000 resi phone lines at a rate that is in no way cheaper than VZ.

I get hammered for cheap access daily. Clients will want an Internet T1 for less than $500 PLUS white glove service. They want a GigE port with no commit at $35 per MB. Yeah. "Price, reliability or service, Mr. Customer. Pick 1."

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