Excite Could Go Dark On Friday 464
robvasquez writes: "According to this CNET article, excite @home could be pulling the plug on cable modem subscribers. What's your providers back up plan? Could milions of trolls and Nimda spreaders be taken off line?"
It may not be so bad. (Score:5, Insightful)
Dear *************,
As you may be aware, Excite@Home, our service provider, recently filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. In order to continue providing you the quality and reliable high-speed cable Internet service that you expect, AT&T has submitted a proposal to purchase the Excite@Home network. If AT&T is able to purchase and manage the Excite@Home network, there will be no immediate change to your current service. If the network purchase is approved, we will notify you via your AT&T@Home email account as soon as possible.
As a precautionary measure, AT&T Broadband also has been building its own network and service in the event that AT&T is unable to purchase the Excite@Home network. If the proposal to purchase the Excite@Home network is not approved, your service may be temporarily interrupted and it will be necessary to move your service to a new AT&T Broadband network.
In any event, AT&T Broadband is deeply committed to providing you the best cable Internet service possible and communicating any upcoming changes. Be sure to frequently check the "Announcements and Updates" section of our Web site for the latest information about your service: http://help.broadband.att.com/
In the meantime, please check your AT&T Broadband email account(s) on a daily basis. Doing this will automatically save your email to your hard drive as well as ensure timely receipt of important future communications from AT&T Broadband. Also, if you use our Personal WebSpace feature, we recommend you backup your personal web page(s) by copying it to a diskette, CD, or to your computer hard drive.
If migrating your service to the AT&T Broadband network and service becomes necessary, we will call to notify you of the migration timing. A message will be left on your voicemail or recorder if no one is available at the time of the call. As a precaution, we are providing you the following instructions, which will enable you to connect your computer to the new AT&T Broadband network. Again, you will only need to follow these steps in the event you receive a call from AT&T Broadband instructing you to do so.
1. Restart your computer to begin the process.
2. Open your Internet browser. You should be automatically sent to an AT&T Broadband welcome page. This page includes instructions on how to download software used to change your computer settings for the new network. If the welcome page does not automatically appear when you open your browser, please go to http://newuser.attbi.com/ (This website will only be available if the service migration is necessary).
3. Follow the instructions on the Web site to run the Automated Configuration Utility (or you can choose to change your computer settings manually).
4. The software will automatically change your Outlook Express email client, your Internet Explorer settings, and configure your computer for the new AT&T Broadband network. Information on how to manually change your settings for other email clients and Internet browsers such as Netscape Communicator and Netscape Navigator can be found at http://help.broadband.att.com/
5. You can now surf the Internet and use email on the new AT&T Broadband Internet network and service.
If migrating your service to the new network is necessary, certain aspects of your service would change. Your current homepage would feature new content and your current email address domain name would change. Please note that your username would remain the same. For example, jsmith@home.com would change to jsmith@attbi.com. If service changes are necessary, a detailed description of all changes will be provided at http://help.broadband.att.com/ in the Announcements and Updates section.
Whether the Excite@Home network is purchased or your service is migrated to the new AT&T Broadband network, your Subscriber Agreement, which outlines the general Terms and Conditions of your service will change. You will be able to view the amended and restated Subscriber Agreement that will apply to the AT&T Broadband Internet service at http://help.broadband.att.com/ Your continued use of the service will constitute your acceptance of the amended and restated AT&T Broadband Internet Subscriber Agreement.
If you need assistance, visit us online at http://help.broadband.att.com/ to chat with a customer care specialist. Please remember, AT&T Broadband will call you if any action is required on your part.
While we realize these potential changes may cause some inconvenience, please be assured that we are doing everything possible to avoid any service disruptions. However, in the event the service is disrupted during a migration, you will receive a credit for those days of interrupted service.
We are working hard to provide you with the best high-speed cable Internet service possible. We appreciate your patience and your business.
Sincerely,
Susan K. Marshall
Senior Vice President
Advanced Broadband Services
Um... doesn't anyone here know... (Score:3, Insightful)
No wonder so many dot.coms went tits-up
Re:Put the government in charge (Score:2, Insightful)
Sometimes monopolies are good. I'm all for free trade and competition, but don't be blind to the virtues of a solid system of regulated monopoly that's worked for generations just because sometimes you fall for hyper-capitalist rhetoric.
Re:A good motivator (Score:5, Insightful)
This is wrong on so many levels it's difficult to even begin. First of all, the government is the last entity I think of when I consider responsive, efficient organizations. I don't know about you, but I like both of those qualities in my internet connection.
This is ignoring the fact that Carnivore would go by the wayside. Who needs Carnivore when you just own the whole thing?
We see what happens in other countries when the government runs the internet. Why, just this week, we've had 17k internet cafes shut down in China [slashdot.org] and Saudi Arabia looking to build an even bigger firewall [slashdot.org].
You thought that the interstate highway system was yours because of gasoline taxes? In times of war the DOT has the authority to take over whatever roads the military needs to move troops/supplies. I don't know about you, but I don't relish the idea of getting kicked off the net for any reason, let alone some religious nutjob.
Scuse me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Someone moderate +1 troll to the poster of the article!
Re:@Home trying to keep subs until last packet.... (Score:3, Insightful)
But for the customer it won't be that bad. When the Excite UBR goes dark, the other UBR on the network they are paying for responds and they go along their way...
Unless I'm missing something, Excite is only shooting thereself in the foot by mulling around with deleting serial numbers from their own HFC.
Re:Won't AT&T immediatly take over? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:what about us... (Score:4, Insightful)
Well then, you're an asshole. I live in a major metropolitan area, but DSL isn't available almost anywhere. Most of the local ISPs went down the drain years ago. I've got I don't know how many family and friends in the area and out who are using excite@home. They'll all have to go back to phone lines with a different ISP. Many of them don't even own a 56k modem.
Worse than technical issues, however -- if the service cuts off, many of them will be cut off as well from their family and friends around the globe, from their professors and schools, from their bill payment services and local banks and utilities. They will also likely lose their e-mail accounts in the middle of e-shopping-season, missing receipts, shipment notices, and other important e-commerce information, not to mention all of their e-mail if they've been using IMAP.
I'll bet there's a spammer on your network somewhere. I hope your network goes down so that I can laugh at you when you have to pony up to AOL because of some idiot spammer you had nothing to do with.
Cutting of someone's ISP without warning is like losing phone service without warning and not being able to get the same number again once phone service is resumed. It can screw your whole life up and I feel sorry for the people I know who aren't technical enough to buy and manage their own domain.
And that's most of them.
Re:A good motivator (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree with you that the market is still too immature to see whether or not intervention would help or hinder it.
Living in a rural area comes with its drawbacks, however. You're off the sewer line, off the gas line, deal with flaky phone lines, etc. Simply because you're out of reach of the CO and your cable company doesn't offer cable modem does NOT mean that you're without broadband. Dedicated circuits have a longer signalling lenght, repeaters can be put on a DSL line, and there's always satellite internet. Not ideal, but you live in the styx, you make some sacrifices re: the societal umbilicus.
About the unserved businesses, businesses don't run on cable modems or DSL. They run either colo or dedicated lines. One thing you started in on, but didn't explore, is that it's going to take universal access before the net becomes the medium everyone (or at least, the commercial everyone) wants it to become. One day, the Sears catalog will be no more. That day will only come when there truly is universal broadband access.
Re:Rogers@Home is trying to convert like crazy (Score:1, Insightful)
This is most intriguing.. please do elaborate? How is smtp.rogers.com any worse than, say, khasdvv0034.rogers.com when you have a router? What the hell is your problem?
Re:Get a life (Score:3, Insightful)
It's neither. It's a product you buy and pay for, and is subject to whatever contract that was agreed upon at the time of purchase, and the UCC laws regarding contracts.
Get a clue (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah? So is a car. And if you woke up tomorrow and it was stolen how fucked would you be? I live 40 minutes from work and we have almost nonexistant mass transit. Sure, you'd figure out how to function but for a while your life would be in turmoil.
Sorry that you have some kind of vendetta against geeks, but you need to separate that from the issue at hand. With very little notice, a lot of users are going to lose what could be an important communication tool. Your response doesn't even address the idea of lost receipts and online bill payment. And let's not forget how much cheaper AIM is for talking to my cousin in TX than a long-distance call. It's not just pervs and space cadets that will be affected here.
Before this morning, I received exactly one notice from Comcast and it said everything was A-OK. Now they're telling me to expect to lose service for a while starting as soon as 2 days from now. Thankfully I never trusted them and didn't use the email account much. Unfortunately, the copper in my area only supports 24.4 so I'm hosed for doing research on the net.
Don't deride a lifestyle choice that you don't agree with and try to pass it off as a valid argument.
Re:It may not be so bad. (Score:3, Insightful)
In-Max Marcus says: No.your services will not be affected at all and we wil reprovisoin all the settings needed.
Translation: We'll keep billing you. But you won't have any bandwidth flowing to or from your house.