AT&T increased the price of its residential DSL high-speed Internet service by $7 a month Tuesday, while eliminating the requirement consumers sign one-year contracts to get its lowest rates.

An AT&T spokeswoman said the new rate schedule was designed to "better meet the needs of our customers," but one industry executive suggested the communications giant was shifting its focus from gaining market share to making more money.

Previously, AT&T offered DSL service for as little as $13 per month. For that price, consumers got download speeds of up to 1.5 megabytes per second, but had to commit to a year of service and sign up online. Also, faster-service tiers of up to 3 Mbps and 6 Mbps were available for $18 and $28 per month, respectively.

Continues @ RecordNet

SAN ANTONIO -- An agreement between AT&T Inc. and a key union has paved the way for the U.S.

By Jessie Seyfer
Mercury News
Is your home phone gathering dust? Thinking of ditching it? For AT&T DSL Internet access customers in California, getting rid of that home-phone line just got easier.

This month, AT&T quietly dropped its requirement that DSL customers must also pay for phone service.

»sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f···PN1.DTL

In its new privacy policy taking effect today, AT&T asserts for the first time that customers' personal data are "business records that are owned by AT&T" and that "AT&T may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

So does AT&T own your confidential info? Legal experts say yes. And no.

"Saying they own your information is vague and imprecise," said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA who focuses on privacy and intellectual property cases.

Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, March 20, 2006

As a result of their mergers with SBC and MCI respectively, AT&T and Verizon must provide standalone, sometimes called naked, DSL. The unbundling of DSL broadband service from traditional phone service has long been an issue for consumer advocates who say the packages have kept bills high and prevented customers from trying new Internet phone services like Vonage.

San Antonio Business Journal - 3:36 PM CST Monday

San Antonio-based AT&T (NYSE: T), already the nation's largest provider of DSL with 6.5 million subscribers, is offering new residential customers the ability to order the new AT&T Yahoo! High-Speed Internet for $14.99 a month. It was formerly called SBC Yahoo! DSL.

Keith Reid
Record Staff Writer
Published Saturday, Dec 31, 2005

LODI - If telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. has its way, the phone company will begin providing television services over a new fiber-optic network to San Joaquin County residents in the next 21/2 years.

The former SBC Communications plans to begin testing Project Lightspeed, a combined TV, broadband Internet and voice network using fiber-optic cable, at least in Lodi within the next three months or so.

From AT&T headquarters in San Antonio, Project Lightspeed spokeswoman Denise Koenig would not say if other San Joaquin County communities will receive Lightspeed service.

Continues @ RecordNet

Monday December 19, 3:35 pm ET

AT&T Inc. is looking to stuff a few stockings this holiday season.

AT&T Inc.
12/15/2005 3:18:05 PM

San Antonio, Texas, December 15, 2005, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) today announced that many of the integrated communications and entertainment solutions it plans to introduce in 2006 will be on exhibit at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January.

"Our growing portfolio of consumer offerings reflects our commitment to delivering the latest in integrated communications and entertainment," said Scott Helbing, chief marketing officer, AT&T Consumer. "In the new year, we plan to introduce a number of innovative solutions, which will provide great new values and choices to our customers and help them experience the digital lifestyle."

Continues @ WebWire

Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, November 10, 2005

Hundreds of SBC Communications' DSL customers in North Highlands, Citrus Heights and Carmichael lost their Internet connections Friday and weren't returned to full service until Wednesday, the company said.

SBC spokeswoman Vanessa Smith said an equipment malfunction in SBC's central office in North Highlands caused the outage to an undetermined number of customers. The equipment was replaced over the weekend, but Monday the company was still receiving complaints. She said most of the outages were intermittent, and some customers had connections, though at much slower than normal DSL speed.

Continues @ SacBee

»home.businesswire.com/portal/sit···sLang=en

Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:34 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - SBC Communications Inc. said on Monday it was revamping prices for its high-speed Internet services, cutting most regular monthly rates to lure more customers onto higher-speed lines.

August 29, 2005
Cliff Edwards

Whatever happened to keeping the promises both implied and real that you make to a customer? In nearly every industry you look nowadays, it seems customer service is getting more miserable. Why is the onus now on the customer to make sure you're getting exactly what you pay for?

Consider my recent experience upgrading my DSL service: SBC is trying to lure people away from cable's broadband, and to keep its own DSL customers, with hot pricing deals of $15 for basic service and $25 for expanded. I recently discovered that since I signed up for DSL years ago, I was getting speeds worse in some cases that what'd you get for basic service.

Continues @ Business Week

26 Aug 2005

A day after Verizon entered into a similar partnership with Yahoo this week, SBC and Yahoo said they will offer SBC's DSL customers an unlimited music download service for a flat rate, reports Red Herring. Yahoo announced a similar deal Tuesday with Verizon DSL service, which is being offered in a discounted but lower-speed version of DSL - at the same $14.95 per month that SBC introduced in June.

FROM STAFF WRITER AND WIRE REPORTS

U.S. telecommunications regulators handed a victory to SBC Communications Inc.

Firms no longer have to lease lines to their competitors

Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, August 6, 2005

The Federal Communications Commission ruled Friday that Internet DSL providers like SBC will no longer be required to lease high-speed lines to independent rivals.

The FCC ruling follows a Supreme Court decision in June that said cable companies do not have to open up their networks to Internet service providers. Together, the decisions deliver a possibly lethal blow to small broadband companies, who could be shut out of the Bay Area's two most widely used high- speed networks, SBC and Comcast.

Continues @ SF Chronicle

Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, July 31, 2005

As companies like SBC, Comcast and a host of others vie to supply your Internet, phone and video services -- and in some cases very soon, all three at once -- the prospect of lowering your bills has rarely been better.

The heightened competition is not only prompting companies to go to extraordinary lengths to attract new customers, it's giving consumers newfound leverage with their current providers. The trick is doing some research and honing your negotiating skills.

Continues @ SF Chronicle

SBC Communications Inc. is using free services to try to lure cable customers.

The regional Bell operating company said Wednesday that beginning July 1, it will offer subscribers who give up their cable service and provide a recent bill as proof three free months of SBC Yahoo! digital-subscriber-line and SBC Dish Network direct-broadcast satellite service, valued at anywhere from $170-$340, depending on package selection.

SBC also announced that its online, limited-time-only offer for SBC Yahoo! DSL service for $14.95 per month, with a one-year term, will now be available through SBC call centers for new residential DSL customers who purchase service bundles such as SBC Connections, which include local and long-distance phone service, as well as custom-calling features like Caller ID.

Continues @ Multichannel News

...Their Communication Services and Offers

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2005--

SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) today announced a new campaign designed to highlight the new "superpower" marketing alliance between SBC companies and Twentieth Century Fox to jointly promote the studio's epic motion picture "Fantastic Four," based on Marvel Comic's first family of comic superheroes, and SBC services.

Wednesday June 22, 10:00 am ET

Roaming Agreement Adds 3,400 Hot Spots in Restaurants, Bookstores and Business Services Centers to Boingo(R) Roaming System

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Boingo Wireless, a leading Wi-Fi service provider for business travelers, today announced its customers now have access to an additional 3,400 Wi-Fi hot spots in the SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC - News) FreedomLink network.

The agreement with SBC adds highly trafficked locations, including airports nationwide, Barnes and Noble bookstores, Caribou Coffee and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations, The UPS Store ® and Mail Box Etc.® business services centers and numerous business hotels, among other major locations. With these additions, business travelers can now use their Boingo account to access 18,000 Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide.

Continues @ Yahoo Finance