Ray, This is a promotional rate, on what is a <<limited market trial>> starting 2nd Q, but even if it becomes the full time rate city-to-city, they still have some problems.
1. This rate applies to pre-paid calls. I imagine that when numerous companies start reselling IT minutes via pre-paid calling cards, along the lines of IDTC, ATT will be among the most expensive in the marketplace, even at these prices.
2. IDTC offers a promotional rate of 5 cents per minute in 2 cities, NY and Chicago, without the need to pre-pay. QWST when activated will sell their minutes at 7.5 cents a minute. When ATT announces a range, it means that they are not 100% sure, IMO, that any one rate will be sustainable. Their low end is not as low as others, this will be a problem.
3. Quality is an issue that they danced around. It will be interesting to see if there is any connection with the LU's announcement that I posted yesterday, before some claim jumper says he did that one first too, about their new equipmnt that will be available.
4. ATT corporate attitude is also very interesting, this really seems like a half-hearted foray into this field. To use the phrase:
<<so-called "Internet Telephony">> denotes a lack of commitment to this venture, in my opinion.
I did not feel the need to discuss this at all having been much more intrigued by Clarent's annt from the same day, about their gateway for IP calls on Cellular, now that's interesting! |
