Bandwidth Charges

[Concillian]

At one point I was planning to subscribe to AT&T U-verse. I was told I could not get U-Verse internet because I had a DSL line from a 3rd party. I would have to cancel my DSL, wait for it to be disconnected, then request U-Verse, which I was told would have at least a 1-2 week wait before a technician could be scheduled to connect new service. Through asking around I found out this was not impossible, and U-Verse internet has no association with the phone line whatsoever, there was no technical relevance. It was simply a company policy to deny such people service, as there was some statistic that demonstrated people with 3rd party DSL lines, on average, required significantly higher provider resources than those customers transferring from a more "mainstream" internet service provider like DSL through the phone company, cable internet, etc... I also found out there was not actually a 1-2 week wait on technicians, and that I was told this to further dissuade me from purchasing their service.

It wasn't that they couldn't provide service to people like me, it was that they didn't want to. This is the same company and I'm betting the same case. If someone is concerned enough with the limit, they'll go somewhere else and be someone else's problem, and this is exactly what AT&T wants. If they want an iPhone bad enough and know they'll use more than 2GB per month, they'll stay and pay for it. This way AT&T's competitors are at a disadvantage in the resources per capita.