MediaOne dns problems

[ron.peterson at yellowbank.com (Ron Peterson)]

On Tue, 10 Apr 2001, Chris Janicki wrote:

> > The point is, they are creating an /artificial/ demand for premium
> > services by being jackasses about the basic services.  Which they can
> > afford to do because they are a monopoly.  But they're not making any
> > friends in the bargain, and if they ever face real competition ... well,
> > I know where my money will be spent.
>
>
> I don't follow your logic... "basic" service is simply plugging in and
> surfing.  MediaOne does a kick-ass job at that, IMHO.  Running your own
> services is NOT basic.  That's a "premium" service.

According to who?  Sure, that's what MediaOne's marketing department calls
it, but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing "premium" about a static
IP address.  In fact, it would be less work for them to manage than
rolling them.

> In fact the cable company is actually being nice by not canceling your
> service for breach of contract. Instead they're enforcing the agreement
> by the friendliest means possible... providing near-perfect basic
> service, while annoying your unpaid premium usage attempts till you go
> away.

My MediaOne connection has been quite satisfactory, actually.  And the
service technicians I've dealt with have been professional and courteous.
I'm just saying that there's something wrong with a business model that
presumes it's o.k. to stiff-arm your customers into "upgrading" their
service by intentionally degrading the service they are currently getting.

Higher bandwidth, service guarantees, etc. are all worthy of the "premium"
moniker.  Static IP addresses are not.

> And they already have real competition (in some locations) from DSL...

Not where I live.

> but the prices are nearly identical, so obviously no one is getting rich.

Stock prices may look gloomy, but the executive compensation picture looks
pretty rosy compared to my standard of living.


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