Our-verse

Last week, Stop the Cap! reported AT&T customers in Connecticut were being told to dump their long-standing DSL service in favor of a forced upgrade to AT&T U-verse. Now some Texans are in the same boat, only that “free upgrade” AT&T offered ended up costing one angry customer $337.

The Star-Telegram found Judith Hedges, who reports she was bullied and intimidated by AT&T’s increasingly threatening letters warning if she did not upgrade her Internet connection to AT&T U-verse, her DSL service will be summarily disconnected.

AT&T pulled the plug last week, leaving Hedges without Internet service.

Consumer reporter Dave Lieber writes, “AT&T has found a new way to lure customers to its supposedly faster U-verse service: Force them to take it.”

As AT&T installs U-verse fiber to the neighborhood service, the company has decided to stop investing in its older DSL technology, and when conditions are right, the company sends letters to their existing DSL customers imposing an “upgrade” to U-verse.

Hedges suspected the threatening letters were part of a high-pressure sales pitch to add TV and phone service, services she did not want, so she tossed the letter away. Big mistake.

AT&T is giving out different answers as to when and why they are forcing DSL customers to switch to U-verse. One told Lieber the company is now introducing forced upgrades wherever U-verse becomes established, another told the reporter the choice remains with the customer as long as the company does not decommission its DSL service in a particular exchange.

AT&T told the newspaper “the large majority of existing customers we’re reaching out to can upgrade to the same-speed package on U-verse without an increase to their broadband bill.”

But that does not always turn out to be true. Hedges signed up for the “free upgrade” to get her service back and promptly found it was more expensive than what she had. In fact, the company loaded her first bill with add-on equipment fees, installation charges, surcharges, taxes, and fees:

• AT&T U-verse temporary promotional rate: $29.95
• Internet Gateway fee: $100
• Installation: $149
• Taxes, fees, and surcharges

The total price for Hedges “free upgrade?” $337. AT&T will reserves the right to bill her a late fee if her check is not forthcoming.

“Apparently, this is the world we live in,” Hedges says. “And AT&T reigns supreme.”