AT&T istrying to acquire DirecTV , a deal deserving some $ 67 billion that would create a soul - sucking leviathan telecoms society . The deed is all but done , and just awaiting FCC approval — something AT&T is hoping to help along by ( temporarily ) offering ( crappy ) internet to low - income families .
In aregulatory filingsubmitted to the FCC last week , AT&T lay out the details of a plan to cater cheap cyberspace to houses that qualify for solid food stamps under SNAP , and do n’t already have AT&T service . That would see millions of home eligible for slow , or slightly less - sluggish internet for $ 5 or $ 10 a month . AT&T is hope that this will incentivize the FCC to O.K. gobbling up DirecTV .
voice generous , right ? Not so fast : AT&T is prognosticate speed of ‘ up to ’ 5 Mbps in areas where it has mellow - speed broadband , and 1.5 Mbps in area with slower Robert William Service . ( There will be no cheap broadband for anyone outside of AT&T ’s existing coverage . )
That ‘ up to ’ is all-important : the help AT&T is pop the question is DSL , the case of cyberspace that is transmitted over phone line , and is liable to be much slower if you hold up far aside from the exchange , or you ’re trying to use the internet at peak metre . So , your already - dumb net will probably be even slower — not to mention , AT&T ’s filing makes no acknowledgment of usage caps .
There ’s also details in the pricing : the slow speeds are $ 5 and $ 10 severally , but that goes up to $ 10 and $ 20 after the first year of nurse on AT&T ’s internet tobacco pipe . And , most significantly , the integral program will finish after four years .
That might vocalise like a farsighted time , but you have to remember what ’s at stake here : a fusion that will see AT&T take 13 million users , and proceed to turn the telecoms manufacture into an uncompetitive oligopoly dominated by a very few powerful players . Is that worth a shitty deal for risky net that will decease in a few eld ?
I sure hope not .
Unfortunately , asimilar dealhelped push through a Comcast merger in 2011 , so do n’t hold your intimation for the FCC tocontinuebeing stalwart , upstanding defender of the cyberspace .
[ FCCviaWashington Post ]
AT&TcapitalismInternetSnapTechnology
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