# Cheaper DSL! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875 "2003-06-05T17:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/1 "2003-06-05T17:25:19Z")
I just got an email from Verizon: > [@](#): > > I am pleased to share some good news with you regarding your Verizon Online DSL Internet service. To make sure you don’t miss this news, we’re also going to send it to you by regular mail shortly. > > We want valued customers like you to be among the first to know that we’re lowering our rates. And don’t worry – there’s nothing you need to do to take advantage of this price reduction. > > You’ll now enjoy the same great service for just $34.95 a month. The new lower rate was effective 5/21/03. You’ll see the new price reflected on your bill within the next two billing cycles along with a prorated credit back to May 21st. Yay! I’ve been with Verizon DSL for a year now, and i’ve been very happy with the service. I thought the price was a bit steep at $49.95 a month, and now i’m getting $15 off. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/2 "2003-06-05T17:28:47Z")
Yep I got that today too. I must say, I’m impressed with a company that not only offers new low rates, but does so for existing customers without any hassle. And I really like the bit about prorating my bill back to May 21. If I could find Mr. James Earl Jones, I’d give him a big ol’ hug. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/3 "2003-06-05T17:52:18Z")
How about NY, what’s the deal with us? huh? huh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quantum\_Butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e79b87/32.png) [@Quantum\_Butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quantum_Butterfly)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/4 "2003-06-05T17:57:53Z")
Wish my family could get Verizon DSL… our only choice for high-speed internet is Adelphia broadband, which frankly sucks. Probably because they don’t have any competition; if they did, they’d have to clean up their act! Sorry for the rant. It’s just frustrating. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/5 "2003-06-05T18:31:51Z")
I looked on the Verizon website and found diddlysquat. In case anyone cares I currently pay $69.99 a month for the 1.5 mps package. If anyone hears the new rates for this package in NYC let me know. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/6 "2003-06-05T21:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*I looked on the Verizon website and found diddlysquat. In case anyone cares I currently pay $69.99 a month for the 1.5 mps package. If anyone hears the new rates for this package in NYC let me know. > > Thanks! \*\* $40/mo should be the 1.5mbps package. Call and ask! ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/7 "2003-06-05T21:39:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*I looked on the Verizon website and found diddlysquat. In case anyone cares I currently pay $69.99 a month for the 1.5 mps package. If anyone hears the new rates for this package in NYC let me know. > > Thanks! \*\* The news about the new rate is [here](http://www.verizon.net/offers/goodnews/new_price.asp). Obviously, it’s only for the basic DSL package. I couldn’t find any news about the higher speed packages. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/8 "2003-06-06T02:15:33Z")
The deal is as follows: one price/one package. The price of Verizon DSL for residential customers is $34.95 (or $29.95 if you have a Veriations phone package.) You will recieve whatever speed your line qualifies for. If your line is qualified for 768kbps/128kbps then you get that for $34.95. If your line qualifies for 1.5mbps/128kbps then that is what you will get for $34.95. I know because I sell it for a living. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/9 "2003-06-06T03:10:16Z")
Thanks **pezpunk**. Do you have any sense of what motivated the price drop? I’m assuming it’s because not enough people were signing up, or too many were dropping the service, or both. And maybe competition from cable and satellite. I always thought $50 a month was too steep, and it certainly bites into my grad student income, but with the number of database articles etc. that i download it certainly makes thing easier to have DSL. With the reduction, i now have $180 less per year to pay out, and i’ll be less tempted to switch to cable internet when it becomes available here soon. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/10 "2003-06-06T12:33:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pezpunk \* > \*\*The deal is as follows: > one price/one package. The price of Verizon DSL for residential customers is $34.95 (or $29.95 if you have a Veriations phone package.) You will recieve whatever speed your line qualifies for. If your line is qualified for 768kbps/128kbps then you get that for $34.95. If your line qualifies for 1.5mbps/128kbps then that is what you will get for $34.95. > > I know because I sell it for a living. 🙂 \*\* Forgive me for being cynical, but this sounds too good to be true. Verizon just slashed prices for everyone, and _in addition_, will give them all the bandwidth their lines are capable of? One or the other would be a blessing, but both? This from the same company that wouldn’t send a tech to my basement for 2 years to do 5 minutes of wiring to give me DSL? Something is fishy. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/11 "2003-06-06T12:34:14Z")
Thanks for the info BTW 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/12 "2003-06-07T15:20:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Forgive me for being cynical, but this sounds too good to be true. Verizon just slashed prices for everyone, and _in addition_, will give them all the bandwidth their lines are capable of? One or the other would be a blessing, but both? This from the same company that wouldn’t send a tech to my basement for 2 years to do 5 minutes of wiring to give me DSL? > > Something is fishy. \*\* I know. We thought it was fishy too but there’s no catch. I had heard for about a year that they would be switching to this plan. It is just an effort to stay ahead of the game and beat the competition. You have no idea how many “converts” we are getting because of this! ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/13 "2003-06-07T15:35:12Z")
“Competition?” The recent DOJ ruling means there _is_ none. The Bells are pretty much the only place you’ll be able to buy DSL. My small ISP got CLEC status, only to find that with the ruling, we can’t possibly provide DSL _at cost_ for what the Bells provide it for at retail. And so it goes. VOIP has them running scared so they’re slashing prices to try to suck people in while they can. ---
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/14 "2003-06-07T17:37:08Z")
I’m guessing that **pezpunk** is referring to “competition” from the cable and satellite companies. I have Verizon DSL and am very happy with it - but just in case I ever get annoyed with it, Comcast keeps sending me flyers describing their cable modem alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheaper-dsl/179875/15 "2003-06-08T11:14:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WillGolfForFood \* > \*\*I’m guessing that **pezpunk** is referring to “competition” from the cable and satellite companies. \*\* Correct. I am not refering to smaller DSL providers leasing lines from Verizon ILEC. I am refering to Earthlink, AOL, Time Warner, etc etc.