When I walk into a store, I expect an honest salesperson to greet me and tell me the best options for my particular need. Yes, I expect them to be biased, but I also expect them to be honest. I guess that is giving companies too much credit nowadays.
My family had just gotten 4 new phones last week. The salespeople at the ATT store persuaded us to put insurance on these phones for $4.95 per month to cover loss, theft, or other forms of damage in exchange for an instant rebate instead of a mail-in. Within a week, my mother and sister walked into the same ATT store to make an insurance claim on my sister’s phone because she accidentally washed her phone in the washing machine – needless to say, we were happy we put insurance on the phone.
Now I suppose because my sister washed the phone in the washer, the salesperson saw an opportunity. Asking what internet service we had, he was pleased to find that we had Cox Communications for both TV and internet. Immediately, he jumped on the opportunity to take advantage of my family members – I guess he thought they were stupid because of the incident with the phone.
Lies Number One, Two and Three:
“Our internet and TV services are better than cable. Cable is only 3 times faster than dial-up, and DSL is over 5 times faster than dial-up.”
One -
Last time I checked, the fastest dial-up connection is 56 kb/s. Here is my current speed for cable internet services:
Granted, we are on the Premium package – but I will be sure to cover the standard package in a few minutes. Let’s do the math.
8149 kb/s divided by 56 kb/s equals roughly 145.5. That means my internet connection is 145.5 times faster than dial-up. Uh-oh!
Standard cable packages are 3000 kb/s here. So let’s figure that out as well:
3000 divided by 56 equals 53.5. It looks like standard cable internet is 53.5 times faster than dial-up!
Two –
Even DSL is more than 5 times faster than dial-up. Here is my friend’s ‘Pro’ DSL package:
2477 divided by 56 equals 44.2. Pro DSL is roughly 44.2 times faster than dial-up.
Standard DSL is a 1500 kb/s connection.
1500 divided by 56 equals 26.7 times faster than dial-up.
Three-
Cable internet packages are not slower than DSL, as this salesperson implied. Standard cable internet is 3000 kb/s download, whereas DSL is standard at 1500 kb/s. By my math, cable should be twice as fast at peak.
Lie Number Four
“DSL is more secure than Cable because Cable goes over a shared connection.”
This could not be any further from the truth. Cable internet uses shared bandwidth. This means that all users connecting through a certain neighborhood cable box share a set amount of bandwidth capacity at the box. If one user is using the internet, their connection will be lightning fast (up to their specific bandwidth cap), but if many users are connected to this box, each user may have a limited amount of bandwidth to use. DSL connects in the same manor, through a neighborhood VSLAM. The only difference here is that DSL uses static bandwidth per line, meaning each DSL connection is steady at their advertised speeds. The function is still the same – the connection goes from the modem, into the line (be it a cable line or phone line), into your neighborhood box, and out through a fiber optic cable to your ISP. Just because a cable connection uses a shared bandwidth model, this does not mean your data is shared across to the other users. In fact, it isn’t. Ever.
Lie Number Five
“I know what I am talking about because my brother is going to graduate with a degree in Computer Science.”
This is the most outrageous, yet most laughable, claim that this salesman could have possibly made. My dad is a pilot and a flight instructor and I am neither. Would you want me to fly you across the country? Probably not. At any rate, he uses this as a sales pitch to try convincing my family that he knows his stuff. Luckily, my family ignored his advice and told me about the situation. I was furious.
The moral to this story is that whenever anyone tries to sell you something, you should do your research. In the case of our readers, you can join our forums and ask for others’ experiences with a product or service. In other cases, Google can usually provide quick answers.
It frustrates me that in order to make a quick buck, companies like ATT try to take advantage of people who do not understand technology. Most people do not understand the complexities of technology, and when they hear “Cable internet isn’t as secure as DSL” they worry and usually switch. I have lost a bunch of respect for ATT over the past few weeks.
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And let’s not forget that AT&T bent right over for the NSA and installed hardware to allow them to spy on the email, VOIP calls, and other info of Americans.
It may be that the company does not know about this lieing salesman. I would write a snail mail to the owner or manager of the store and to the president of ATT.
People who lie to the public like this do not deserve to have a job.
The best way to get a company to re-act to a complaint is to go through the “Better Business Bureau” . I have found that this makes most companies sit up and take notice, plus it normally gets through to the corporate office. The local management does not normally care to much.
I lost what little respect I had for AT&T a few months back when the company I work for switched our company phones from Verizon to AT&T. AT&T’s coverage area is laughable. I have service virtually everywhere I go for work with my personal Verizon phone but the company AT&T phone has service only in major metropolitan areas. Even then we get dropped calls galore.
Definitely write a snail mail letter to whoever is above this jive turkey — he may have violated ATT policies with what he said and did …
I understand What you mean by companies taking advantage of the poorly informed, but your article leads people to believe that cable is better than DSL. Which is again another decision that takes alot of research. One thing cable companies don’t tell you is that if they notice you are using alot of bandwith which is easy to do if you like to play online games they will limit your use. This I have seen happen. I use alot of bandwith and would be upset having to pay nearly 3 times what I pay with DSL for a commercial connection with cable just to do the same job.
America is all about money, which causes people to lie to make money, including commision. So NEVER trust the word of a salesperson. Ask for the information in printed form, provided by the company itself. Now, if they lie, they’re busted. ALSO – when dealing with salesmen, let them know you are recording them – you do have a digital voice recorder, don’t you? Watch nothing but truth and sweetness flow from their quivering lips. If they don’t like the recorder, ask why.
I’d like to know where you got your data about cable data not being ‘shared’…
Last I checked with wireshark, the data is ‘shared’ around the neighborhood loop. Unless your specific cable connection is different, all data is seen by all local hosts. One thing you did miss on Cable is that during peek use, one can see a dramatic drop in speed.
I have both Cable and DSL connections. Cable is nice, because the download starts out pretty quick then tails off to the max. DSL has more stable speeds.
With both connections, if your upload is maxed out, you’ll see a drop in download speeds.
Hello all, and thank you for your comments.
I have considered writing a letter to the company, but as of right now, I have not had a chance with the busy holidays. I will update if I do make this decision.
In response to Neil (#6) “your article leads people to believe that cable is better than DSL.”
This was not my intent at all. I was trying to show facts that say the salesperson was lying to my family. I compared my cable connection to my friend’s connection for the sole purpose of proving that his claims were false. If you ask me to tell you which is best – it depends on your needs. For clarity, cable has greater bandwidth capacity, while DSL has greater stability in speed. It is a toss-up, if you are willing to give up the couple hours a day if your area is packed for slow speeds for the non-peak speeds (which was my choice), you go with Cable. If you like your speed to be steady all day and night, you go with DSL. If you don’t care, shop for price and features. Neither is really definably “better”.
In response to James (#8): ” One thing you did miss on Cable is that during peek use, one can see a dramatic drop in speed.”
From my article: “If one user is using the internet, their connection will be lightning fast (up to their specific bandwidth cap), but if many users are connected to this box, each user may have a limited amount of bandwidth to use.”
It depends on how many people are on your area’s cable internet.