Scrambling AT&T Broadband technicians have resumed
high-speed cable Internet access for 330,000 of the 800,000 customers
stranded over the weekend by bankrupt Internet service provider (ISP)
@Home’s decision to shut down part of its network.
A majority of AT&T @Home customers throughout the country should be back
online, according to AT&T Broadband officials, by the end of the
week. Executives at Ma Bell continue to negotiate a deal to resume
service to the remaining half-million or so left in the dark.
Operating under the assumption that a deal can’t be brokered, AT&T
Broadband has continued with a migration schedule that it says will get a
“majority” of its customers back online. The following is a rough schedule
of the region with AT&T Broadband @Home service and when they should be
getting service back:
- San Fransisco and Illinois — Monday afternoon and Tuesday
- Denver and Salt Lake City — Wednesday
- Hartford, CT; Pittsburgh, Sacramento and the Rocky Mountain
region — Thursday - Michigan — Friday.
So far, only Ma Bell’s broadband Internet arm has been shut
down, though negotiations continue with other cable Internet providers
under @Home’s service umbrella.
AT&T Broadband’s shutdown is a pointed reminder of who @Home creditors and
bondholders hold to blame for the shutdown Saturday morning around midnight.
The broadband ISP has, so far, rebuffed the meager $307 million buyout
offer currently on the table. While many close to the situation expected
AT&T to make a marginally better offer over the weekend, it was obviously
not enough to satisfy @Home creditors.
Until the deal is brokered, AT&T Broadband is looking for new Internet
homes (no pun intended) for its nearly one million AT&T @Home
customers. The 330,000 customers transferred over the weekend to AT&T
Broadband’s existing service in Oregon, Washington and metro Dallas, are
only a fraction of the total needing service.
Susan Marshall, AT&T Broadband senior vice president of advanced broadband
services, said AT&T has been busy finding a new broadband connection for
its remaining 500,000 subscribers and should have most of them up and
running again by the end of the week.
“We’re having good success in implementing our contingency migration plan,”
Marshall said. “We deeply regret the temporary inconvenience to our
Broadband Internet customers resulting from the Excite@Home service shut
down, but we’re in high gear and driving hard to complete the customer
migration to the new network. We’re appealing to our customers to stick
with us as we add them to a reliable, high-quality network that will serve
them well.”
AT&T Broadband will have a tough time appealing to its customers, in wake
of the confusion and inconvenience caused by the shutdown. Until it strikes a deal with @Home, its customers are unable to access any @Home
email or access their Web pages. In the interim, AT&T Broadband is giving
its re-established customers an @attbi.com email address.
A caveat added to the end of its update release this weekend is a sure sign
AT&T expects to take the blame for the @Home shutdown, at least in the eyes
of potential future customers. In a statement, officials said the
shutdowns are “expected to negatively impact growth in the company’s number
of Broadband Internet customers and revenue generating units in the fourth
quarter of 2001.”
In related news, the other cable operators using @Home’s service (including
Cox Communications , Comcast Communications
and Insight Communications made contingency plans of their
own. When the bankruptcy judge made its decision Friday afternoon to allow
@Home creditors to shut down the network, it forced everyone to negotiate
deals of their own to keep service going.
Everyone but AT&T Broadband was able to strike a deal with the failing ISP.
Charter Communications decided not to sign a deal with @Home, instead
transferring 90 percent of its 145,000 @Home subscribers to its own service
once the judge handed down his decision Friday.
Dave Barford, Charter executive vice president and chief operating officer,
said the remaining 10 percent should be brought into the Charter fold soon.
“We look forward to quickly transferring our remaining customers from
Charter@Home to Charter Pipeline once circuits are provided to us by the
phone company,” Barford said. “As soon as high-speed Internet service is
restored in those areas, which will be within a week to four weeks
depending on the community, we will notify customers.”
