Wah! We don't have enough of a monopoly!

[vvvexation]

I got an error message trying to sign up for SBC DSL online (yes, I know they suck but they're the cheapest we could find) because our phone hadn't been hooked up yet. That wasn't listed as one of the reasons why "you may have recieved this message," though--but one of the reasons that was listed was "you may be receiving this message because an SBC company is not the provider of your local phone service. If this is the case, we’d love to have the opportunity to be your only choice for all your communication needs."

Emphasis theirs.

The wording, I'll bet, is more accurate than they intended. I'm sure they would indeed love it if no one could choose any other service provider. Then they could offer even crappier service than they do now.

Comments

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Did you try Raw Bandwidth (www.rawbw.com)? They're as cheap as SBC AFAIK (I'm paying $44 a month), and I've been extremely happy with their service. You're still ultimately buying the DSL from SBC, but at least this way part of the cash goes to a nice local business.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

The deal we got from SBC was $27 a month.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Major extra vote for Raw Bandwidth. Their customer service is just amazing.

(Pity they couldn't match SBC's deal.)

[capnkjb.livejournal.com]

I have few harsh words and many nice ones for Earthlink DSL. If it is more expensive than SBC, it is not that much more, and they usually have a deal or two going on. They are not the evil empire to which SBC aspires.

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Ah well, too late now.