AT&T $20 “Naked DSL” Arrives

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

What’s “Naked DSL?” It’s DSL you can get without having to have phone service as well. With more people going totally wireless phone-wise, it’s a “tier” people want. And it was part of the conditions (.PDF) AT&T agreed to in order to get FCC approval of the BellSouth merger. I wrote about the “improving naked DSL prices” in an earlier post.

According to the agreement:

Within twelve months of the Merger Closing Date, AT&T/BellSouth will make available in its in-region territory an ADSL service capable of speeds up to 768 Kbps to ADSL-capable customers without requiring such customers to also purchase circuit switched voice grade telephone service (”Stand Alone 768 Kbps service”). AT&T/BellSouth will continue to offer the 768 Kbps service in a state for thirty months after the “Stand Alone 768 Kbps Implementation Date” for that state. For purposes of this commitment, the “Stand Alone 768 Kbps Implementation Date” for a state shall be the date on which AT&T/BellSouth can offer the Stand Alone 768 Kbps service to eighty percent of the ADSL-capable premises in AT&TBellSouth’s in-region territory in that state. The Stand Alone 768 Kbps service will be offered at a rate of not more than $19.95 per month (exclusive of regulatory fees and taxes) .

According to DSL Reports and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, that pricing tier became available on Dec. 20. However, while the AJC said you can get that rate with no contract, I couldn’t find that deal.

Not only that, it wasn’t easy to find “naked DSL” period. I did find it, however, here.

Unlike the AJC story, while there is a 768 Kbps service at $19.95 / month, it requires a 1-year contract. 1.5 Mbps service is $23.95 / month. Compare that with pricing if you have AT&T phone service: 768 Kbps service for $14.95 and 1.5 Mbps service for $23.95.

We Say: BTW, there’s also a $10 basic promotional price for new customers (with phone service) that you can only find by clicking the details link at the bottom of the standard DSL offerings page. This was also part of the merger conditions, but like the above, is obviously difficult to find.

Both of these offerings are required to run for 30 months.