AT&T Internet - RIP DSL? Pony up for the changes

If you are an AT&T DSL user, I suspect you will be getting a notice before long telling you to pony up for new service under AT&T's U-verse.

AT&T has issued new terms of service making clear it can force you to convert to the costlier U-verse system when it wants to. It would appear to be part of the telco's larger strategy to pump some more growth into the higher-margin fiber networks and offset loss of DSL customers to cable operators.

So what do you get? Well, you do get higher speeds - AT&T touts 3 MB download speeds for its U-verse level that roughly equates to the same DSL level that's at 1.5MB. But it's also about 15 percent more expensive (after the 12-month discount), and you will get hit for a $100 bill for installation. See this from AT&T's pricing site.

All of this, of course, is part of a larger shift in phone service in which AT&T is playing "who blinks first" with the FCC and is preparing for the end of copper-wire service in favor of IP.

Not surprisingly, AT&T is putting some limits on usage as well (although it is fairly generous):

Are there any usage limits for my broadband service?
Yes.  As of May 2, 2011, AT&T's residential DSL High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 150 Gigabytes ("GB") per month, and its residential U-verse High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 250 Gigabytes ("GB") per month.  The usage allowance is the amount of data you can send and receive each month.

It's an extra $10 per 50GB.

For now, you'll be getting an e-mail telling you about the new TOS. It's probably worth sucking up the tendency to glaze over and spend the time reading it. (And AT&T has put up a site for you to monitor your usage: http://www.myusage.att.com/)