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Author Topic:   demise of excite@home

Tom W Clark posted 12-02-2001 10:31 PM ET (US)
As many of you know, us cable internet subscribers had our cable service interupted Friday night/Saturday morning. All of us @home.com suscibers now have new email addresses (@attbi.com). For those of you who have tried to email me since 3:00 AM PST Saturday morning, the mail was not delivered. Please try again. I have a new email address that will have to be used now: tomwclark@attbi.com
OutrageMan posted 12-02-2001 11:45 PM ET (US)
I still don't have reliable email. They cant seem to get my account to the new servers.
Brian
jimh posted 12-03-2001 12:02 AM ET (US)
This had a noticeable impact on website attendance!
Saturday night my cable modem service failed, and I suddenly thought I was being cast adrift, too. Turned out to be a local outage and service was restored in a couple of hours.
triblet posted 12-03-2001 12:12 AM ET (US)
Not ALL @home.com customers are moved to
@attbi.com, on (most of?) those on AT&T
cable networks.
Chuck
Tom W Clark posted 12-03-2001 12:31 AM ET (US)
I stand corrected.
Could somebody explain to me the relationship between AT&T, Excite, and @home? I giver my money to AT&T but there have been times when they wouldn't take responsability for problems with my service. Are there other cable companies involved with getting me hooked up to the internet? I have never been able to figure out how this all works.
OutrageMan posted 12-03-2001 02:20 AM ET (US)
It is somewhat complicated, but I will try to make it simple.
For example, in the Portland, OR metro area, local municipalities have enacted ordinces against monopolies of broadband internet. AT&T was barred from using its cable service to deliver bradband. In order to get around this, they half assed sub-contracted the management and delivery of the service through excite, but they maintained control of their cables.
This is one of the reasons the bankruptcy court has forbid the purchase of Excite by AT&T. However, they have allowed AT&T to switch excite@home customers to their network with the caveat that they allow competing comapnies to use their infrastructure for a fee if they wish to compete with them.
This may not be the exact case everywhere in the country, but it is a simplified version of what is going on on the Left Coast.
Brian
daverdla posted 12-03-2001 08:40 AM ET (US)
I'm on @home via comcast. So far no problems. In case of a shutdown, all they have offered is a link to netzero. I may just switch to DSL via our phone company. It's about $6.00 more per month.
Dave
TightPenny posted 12-03-2001 09:34 AM ET (US)
Same here in New Jersey with Comcast. No problems so far, just a warning about possible interuption of service.
hauptjm posted 12-03-2001 12:31 PM ET (US)
I don't use it but, so far as I know, the service through Cox Cable (via Excite) has not been interupted in the New Orleans area.
lhg posted 12-03-2001 12:45 PM ET (US)
My son just two weeks ago got his AT&T cable modem service hooked up, and now it's out! He's not happy.
The news here in Chgo is that AT&T was buying their cable modem service from Excite, but that Excite was unhappy that they were only receiving a very small proportion of the $50 monthly cost. So they petitioned a judge for permission to cut off the service, until AT&T agrees to pay more, and won.
bigz posted 12-03-2001 01:09 PM ET (US)
http://www3.zdnet.com/zdnn/
This link will take you to ZDnet's front page news where if inclined can scoll down to all the current "excite@home" news including some background articles ---
SuburbanBoy posted 12-03-2001 01:22 PM ET (US)
ATT has dropped the ball. In my case they stated that they would call us before any interruption of service. This was a lie as they did not call me, nor any of my 10+ neighbors with the same service. When I call the AT&T Broadband Customer Care center at 888-262-6300, and I provide them with my phone number, the call is disconnected. So, unlike Tom and others, I am unable to transition into a new email ID or reconfigure for the new service. Perhaps the best example of terrible customer service I have ever experienced. I hate to pay for something and not receive it, much less receive such frustration. I still carry an open Earthlink account and use that as a substitute. Unfortunately, I am not eligible for DSL in my location, or I would switch.
sub
Tom W Clark posted 12-03-2001 09:44 PM ET (US)
sub,
I was back up and running in two days. My brother in Portland, OR was up and running in one day. I only received the recorded message about the interruption after it happened.
I have a friend here in Seattle who got the same instructions via phone message on Sunday that directed him to the web site you have to visit in order to reconfigure your computer. He had no luck and called the same number you called. I had to call tech support myself but called: 877-824-2288 and in spite of a message that said the wait would be twenty minutes I was connected to a live person almost immediately. You might try this.
In my case the instructions on their web site were incomplete for my computer (Mac OS 9, Netscape) The guy immediately told me what to do and voil�, I was up and running. I don�t know if my friend ever got his to work. He has a Dell....
I'm annoyed about losing my "@home" address. I always thought it was "cool" and easy to remember. "attbi" just doesn't have the same ring to it. I've come to think of it as "AT&T bites it"!
daverdla posted 12-04-2001 07:48 AM ET (US)
Comcast breaks silence...
http://www.comcastonline.com/info.htm
It mentions "other broadband providers", but not by name. Still needs approval however from the bankruptcy court. DSL may be the better choice. Does anyone have any experience with Verizon DSL in the Philadelphia area?
Dave
TightPenny posted 12-04-2001 03:32 PM ET (US)
I got this in this morning from Comcast:
Dear Comcast @Home Customer,
I am pleased to announce that Comcast has reached an agreement with Excite@Home, pending approval from the Bankruptcy Court, that provides you with uninterrupted high-speed Internet service. Comcast�s first priority is to provide you with reliable and high-quality service. This agreement also will ensure a smooth transition from your current service to an improved, all-Comcast managed Internet service in the weeks ahead.
Comcast High-Speed Internet will provide you with the high-speed, always-on connection you�ve come to enjoy. This new Comcast service also will offer improved reliability, customer support and features, such as �e-mail from anywhere� with web-based e-mail and an innovative storage solution for MP3s and photos.
We will provide you with notification and instructions on how to convert your account to Comcast High-Speed Internet before we introduce service in your area. In addition, Comcast will continue to provide you with regular updates on our toll-free hotline at 1-888-433-6963 and on our website at http://www.comcastonline.com/info.htm.

Having this agreement in place is an important piece to ensuring a smooth transition to Comcast High-Speed Internet. We appreciate your loyalty as a customer and apologize for any inconvenience you have been caused in the last week. We will continue to aggressively strive to provide you the best high-speed Internet service and support possible. Thank you for choosing Comcast.
Sincerely,

David Juliano
Senior Vice President, Comcast Online Communications
SuburbanBoy posted 12-05-2001 12:21 AM ET (US)
Finally got mine (and all of my neighbors) running. Lots of dead ends, they (att) may sill be loading tables into their routers. This is still much better than my Earthlink dialup. Dame well ought to be a 3x's the price. Still don't understand why we suffered.
sub
SuburbanBoy posted 12-06-2001 12:11 PM ET (US)
More bad news for ATT Broadband users who fell victim to their "bait and switch" program. The bait and switch is the reduction in bandwidth from that which was originally advertised and sold. It also appears that ATT intends to eliminate the use use of home firewalls and routers. This means we must "trust" ATT to protect our personal data from harm.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-8081284.html?tag=lh
sub

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Author	Topic: demise of excite@home
Tom W Clark	posted 12-02-2001 10:31 PM ET (US) As many of you know, us cable internet subscribers had our cable service interupted Friday night/Saturday morning. All of us @home.com suscibers now have new email addresses (@attbi.com). For those of you who have tried to email me since 3:00 AM PST Saturday morning, the mail was not delivered. Please try again. I have a new email address that will have to be used now: tomwclark@attbi.com
OutrageMan	posted 12-02-2001 11:45 PM ET (US) I still don't have reliable email. They cant seem to get my account to the new servers. Brian
jimh	posted 12-03-2001 12:02 AM ET (US) This had a noticeable impact on website attendance! Saturday night my cable modem service failed, and I suddenly thought I was being cast adrift, too. Turned out to be a local outage and service was restored in a couple of hours.
triblet	posted 12-03-2001 12:12 AM ET (US) Not ALL @home.com customers are moved to @attbi.com, on (most of?) those on AT&T cable networks. Chuck
Tom W Clark	posted 12-03-2001 12:31 AM ET (US) I stand corrected. Could somebody explain to me the relationship between AT&T, Excite, and @home? I giver my money to AT&T but there have been times when they wouldn't take responsability for problems with my service. Are there other cable companies involved with getting me hooked up to the internet? I have never been able to figure out how this all works.
OutrageMan	posted 12-03-2001 02:20 AM ET (US) It is somewhat complicated, but I will try to make it simple. For example, in the Portland, OR metro area, local municipalities have enacted ordinces against monopolies of broadband internet. AT&T was barred from using its cable service to deliver bradband. In order to get around this, they half assed sub-contracted the management and delivery of the service through excite, but they maintained control of their cables. This is one of the reasons the bankruptcy court has forbid the purchase of Excite by AT&T. However, they have allowed AT&T to switch excite@home customers to their network with the caveat that they allow competing comapnies to use their infrastructure for a fee if they wish to compete with them. This may not be the exact case everywhere in the country, but it is a simplified version of what is going on on the Left Coast. Brian
daverdla	posted 12-03-2001 08:40 AM ET (US) I'm on @home via comcast. So far no problems. In case of a shutdown, all they have offered is a link to netzero. I may just switch to DSL via our phone company. It's about $6.00 more per month. Dave
TightPenny	posted 12-03-2001 09:34 AM ET (US) Same here in New Jersey with Comcast. No problems so far, just a warning about possible interuption of service.
hauptjm	posted 12-03-2001 12:31 PM ET (US) I don't use it but, so far as I know, the service through Cox Cable (via Excite) has not been interupted in the New Orleans area.
lhg	posted 12-03-2001 12:45 PM ET (US) My son just two weeks ago got his AT&T cable modem service hooked up, and now it's out! He's not happy. The news here in Chgo is that AT&T was buying their cable modem service from Excite, but that Excite was unhappy that they were only receiving a very small proportion of the $50 monthly cost. So they petitioned a judge for permission to cut off the service, until AT&T agrees to pay more, and won.
bigz	posted 12-03-2001 01:09 PM ET (US) http://www3.zdnet.com/zdnn/ This link will take you to ZDnet's front page news where if inclined can scoll down to all the current "excite@home" news including some background articles ---
SuburbanBoy	posted 12-03-2001 01:22 PM ET (US) ATT has dropped the ball. In my case they stated that they would call us before any interruption of service. This was a lie as they did not call me, nor any of my 10+ neighbors with the same service. When I call the AT&T Broadband Customer Care center at 888-262-6300, and I provide them with my phone number, the call is disconnected. So, unlike Tom and others, I am unable to transition into a new email ID or reconfigure for the new service. Perhaps the best example of terrible customer service I have ever experienced. I hate to pay for something and not receive it, much less receive such frustration. I still carry an open Earthlink account and use that as a substitute. Unfortunately, I am not eligible for DSL in my location, or I would switch. sub
Tom W Clark	posted 12-03-2001 09:44 PM ET (US) sub, I was back up and running in two days. My brother in Portland, OR was up and running in one day. I only received the recorded message about the interruption after it happened. I have a friend here in Seattle who got the same instructions via phone message on Sunday that directed him to the web site you have to visit in order to reconfigure your computer. He had no luck and called the same number you called. I had to call tech support myself but called: 877-824-2288 and in spite of a message that said the wait would be twenty minutes I was connected to a live person almost immediately. You might try this. In my case the instructions on their web site were incomplete for my computer (Mac OS 9, Netscape) The guy immediately told me what to do and voil�, I was up and running. I don�t know if my friend ever got his to work. He has a Dell.... I'm annoyed about losing my "@home" address. I always thought it was "cool" and easy to remember. "attbi" just doesn't have the same ring to it. I've come to think of it as "AT&T bites it"!
daverdla	posted 12-04-2001 07:48 AM ET (US) Comcast breaks silence... http://www.comcastonline.com/info.htm It mentions "other broadband providers", but not by name. Still needs approval however from the bankruptcy court. DSL may be the better choice. Does anyone have any experience with Verizon DSL in the Philadelphia area? Dave
TightPenny	posted 12-04-2001 03:32 PM ET (US) I got this in this morning from Comcast: Dear Comcast @Home Customer, I am pleased to announce that Comcast has reached an agreement with Excite@Home, pending approval from the Bankruptcy Court, that provides you with uninterrupted high-speed Internet service. Comcast�s first priority is to provide you with reliable and high-quality service. This agreement also will ensure a smooth transition from your current service to an improved, all-Comcast managed Internet service in the weeks ahead. Comcast High-Speed Internet will provide you with the high-speed, always-on connection you�ve come to enjoy. This new Comcast service also will offer improved reliability, customer support and features, such as �e-mail from anywhere� with web-based e-mail and an innovative storage solution for MP3s and photos. We will provide you with notification and instructions on how to convert your account to Comcast High-Speed Internet before we introduce service in your area. In addition, Comcast will continue to provide you with regular updates on our toll-free hotline at 1-888-433-6963 and on our website at http://www.comcastonline.com/info.htm. Having this agreement in place is an important piece to ensuring a smooth transition to Comcast High-Speed Internet. We appreciate your loyalty as a customer and apologize for any inconvenience you have been caused in the last week. We will continue to aggressively strive to provide you the best high-speed Internet service and support possible. Thank you for choosing Comcast. Sincerely, David Juliano Senior Vice President, Comcast Online Communications
SuburbanBoy	posted 12-05-2001 12:21 AM ET (US) Finally got mine (and all of my neighbors) running. Lots of dead ends, they (att) may sill be loading tables into their routers. This is still much better than my Earthlink dialup. Dame well ought to be a 3x's the price. Still don't understand why we suffered. sub
SuburbanBoy	posted 12-06-2001 12:11 PM ET (US) More bad news for ATT Broadband users who fell victim to their "bait and switch" program. The bait and switch is the reduction in bandwidth from that which was originally advertised and sold. It also appears that ATT intends to eliminate the use use of home firewalls and routers. This means we must "trust" ATT to protect our personal data from harm. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-8081284.html?tag=lh sub