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.

Like what you read?

If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below: