I was listening on the radio and found out that Att is going to charge anyone they think that is online more then they should be. The dish networks are complaining that people with DSL can watch online and do not have to buy the bundle that they have with ATT. :thumbdown: I wonder how much is to much :-(

Wow! Glad I dont have dish or ATT! We have about 7 computers, an xbox, a ps3, 3 teens with ipods, and then all their friends that hang out here and use our connection on their toys. I bet we log more than 24 hours in just one short evening!!!

I live out in the county and we just got DLS a few months back. Not sure what we will be done about this. My hubby and I use the computer all the time. :wink:

I had Att dial-up and they said I could not be on the internet with my unlimited long distance or they would charge me long distance fees. We can not get dsl so, I went with Hughesnet (satallite)sp?. If I could I would use only my cell phone ( it would not be ATT) We can not get reliable cell service either. The down side of rual living:)

I have ATT, but just for my phone service. We planned to get rid of the house phone when we got our iphones, but they get such horrible service that we have to keep the stupid land line. I live way out in the country too, and have terribly slow internet. However it is better then dial up, and the best I can get at the moment. I could get satellite service, but am told it is horrible around here too. My ISP has even blocked Netflix and anything like that. He said that when a bunch of people are trying to watch instant movies, or anything streaming, it drags down the whole system. Maybe that is why ATT is talking about doing that?

They just increased my rate for DSL and I have the complete bundle. So many people are dropping their land lines and just using cell phone so I guess they have to figure out a way to make more $$. I'm thinking about dropping my land line too.

I see a major business opportunity here. Sounds like your area is a serious market for more Internet service.

I have just recently left AT&T (with JOY!) and gone with a cell-router from Verizon for the computer and a new cell phone from them. My access is so much faster that with AT&T, I can not tell you!! I'm seeing online videos for the first time in 3 years!! It took me over a year's agonizing to make the decision to switch because I'd heard such awful things about Verizon customer service, but I've found my service reps in our local shop to be beyond gracious, knowledgeable and helpful.
So glad I made the switch; Verizon truly IS better than AT&T!!

Jan in VA

Back when I still had dial-up, Ameritech suddenly charged me several hundred dollars one month. Their story was that I was using my 'voice' line for dial up - to a local number. I said they had no right to tell me 'how' I could use my phone. They said they sent a letter and named the date - which was AFTER I had already purchased the service. I told them they couldn't change the terms of usage AFTER the contract (purchase) was agreed to (agreement being they provided a service and I paid the bill). They agreed to 'discount' the dial up rate. I said not good enough - I'm not paying ANY rate as they were local calls and part and parcel of my monthly service. It took a long time but I fought city hall and won. Shortly after that I canceled my land line cause the local cable company offered internet service so I went with Vonage.

The only article I read recently about AT&T has to do with people who are using their cell phones as routers for their pc's internet service. That is called tethering & AT&T has a special plan for people that want to tether but many phones are easily hackable to tether without paying AT&T their extra fee so they are going to start charging people the tethering fee on their cell phone bill.

I pay for tethering so I have no issue with them enforcing their own rules. Hubby himself is guilty of using his iPhone to tether without paying AT&T the fee.

We are also in a semi-rural area so we have Wildblue satellite service--very similar to Hughesnet. There are also limits on satellite service and you have to find ways to live within the limits, upgrade your plan (pay more), or deal with them throttling your bandwidth until you're back under your limit.

We have dropped our landline down to the most basic service and will eventually drop it all together as we do get a fairly decent cell signal from AT&T, T-Mobile & Sprint but as for broadband internet--we'll have to move or the power company will have to get into the broadband business before it is available to us.