Via Om, news that BellSouth is cutting prices on ADSL services.
Now, you can get 256k for $24.95 [256k, are you kidding me?? Only if you're a wireless carrier can you get away with offering that kind of miserable speed]
The "Xtreme" product is 3 mb/s and goes for $42.95. Respectable speed, but still way overpriced
Here's the funniest part: By the end of the year, ADSL2+ will have been installed, so they will start to offer "FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0" which is 6 mb/s. That means, by the end of the year, American's unfortunate enough to live in BellSouth areas will be able to get ADSL at 1/3 the speed that French consumers *have been getting for a year already*, using the exact same technology.
Those same French consumers today pay 30 Euros/month (about $36), for 20 mb/s access (and this includes 80 channels of TV, unlimited national VoIP, and 100 digital radio stations...but I digress). That's a little less than $2 per mb that the French are paying.
On BellSouth's new "lowered" rates, Americans will be paying from $14 to $100 per mb depending on the product. Between 7 and 50 times more expensive than in France.
Perhaps that's why the fine folks in America's south are starting to rebel.