AT&T (the former SBC) is really going all out in trying to discredit alternative telephone technology, especially targeting Comcast's VOIP offering. There is one major, major flaw in their ads - when they claim that their phone service is available even when the power goes out, that statement was anything but true in August 2003 during the big blackout. Where we live, the phones went down about 4 hours after the blackout hit and didn't return until after we got our power back late on Friday.
In the days following, SBC never even admitted our exchange (Utica, MI) was out. They did admit to an outage in nearby Mt. Clemens, but claimed it was only 68 minutes long. We know it wasn't just us - all of our neighbors reported the same problem, and no - we weren't trying to use cordless phones, but rather a plain old telephone that doesn't require batteries or electric power.
SBC failed us in 2003 and I see no reason to believe them in 2006 when their ads state that their landlines will be available in a blackout. In fact, those ads strike me as disingenuous- offering something that they obviously can't guarantee. They lost me as a customer in 2005- I'm satisfied using VOIP, even with its occasional hiccups (which are less and less frequent). We have a cell phone that can be used as a backup - and with 911 service improving on cells and fully functional on our VOIP line, there is no reason to go back. If they had really been interested in keeping me as a customer, they should have addressed their price point years ago and not try to market themselves with lower prices after the fact. And they could have actually been a reliable service in the '03 blackout instead of checking out like the power and water systems did.
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