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To: ahhaha who wrote (16954)	11/12/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 29970

Certainly sound like att is pulling the rug from under. Hence enter AOL

To: ahhaha who wrote (16954)	11/12/1999 12:38:00 PM
From: gpowell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Assuming the writer did not misquote or confuse references. Then what other definitions of "field installations" could Werner mean? If field installations refer to headend and/or RDC then this quote does make sense: "At the meeting, AT&T executives said, the company voiced concerns about the quality and pace of field installation, customer support and the maintenance of the critical backbone network by Excite At Home. "

To: ahhaha who wrote (16954)	11/12/1999 1:06:00 PM
From: E. Davies	Respond to of 29970

What's this crap? Sure smells fishy. Its like AT&T is willing to do anything to smear @home, even if it is their own fault. Reminds me of the stuff we got from Hindery, and the nasty rumors T was spreading. Rather underhanded behavior, but I dont really see the purpose. Eric

To: ahhaha who wrote (16954)	11/12/1999 1:31:00 PM
From: ld5030	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29970

<<Excite At Home "severely dropped the ball in a number of markets," said Tony Werner, chief technology officer of AT&T's Broadband & Internet unit at the briefing. "They have to get to the point where they can meet 100% of demand.">> Seems like this guy learned nothing from Hindrey. They should can his ass. Why air your dirty laundry in public? It is not good for anyone's stock price but your competitor's. Didn't ATHM just make an announcement that they have the fastest backbone in the world? Someone on this thread also posted an article describing major upgrades in the SF bay area to meet demand. I'm sure that ATHM has customer service issues like any other service-related company, but the issues T faces are much more serious. Kettle, thou'rt black. <<Maybe this is a prelude to a rug pulling.>> It does not make sense to bad mouth a company right before you sell a major stake in it. If they are really going to re-invent the backbone with AOL (or someone else) they would sell their stake in ATHM and then pull the rug. How old is this article if the author states that ATHM has 133,00 subscribers? The entire article is confused and should be dismissed as hearsay.

To: ahhaha who wrote (16954)	11/13/1999 11:25:00 AM
From: Jay Lowe	Respond to of 29970

>> I don't get it. What's this crap? >> "severely dropped the ball in a number of markets," Positioning. AT&T has inherited a number of extremely toxic municipal relationships (see below for example) ... and a considerable legacy of customer dissatisfaction. In their takeover of TCI, AT&T demanded various service improvements and customers saw the AT&T name appear only when these were implemented. I think this is a culture-conflict thing ... an attribute of merging identity. AT&T started with the "we-them" model and continues to work it expediently. Insofar as it benefits AT&T to take responsibility, they will. Insofar as it benefits them not to take responsibility, they won't. archives.seattletimes.com TCI working to bury past with new leader guiding transformation by Helen Jung Seattle Times technology reporter The TCI cable company has gained such notoriety in the Puget Sound area that customers have come up with inventive variations on the acronym that officially stands for Tele-Communications Inc. Like Terrible Cable Inc.; Truly, Completely Incompetent; and Television Criminals Inc. Now enter James "Trey" Smith III and a new acronym, AT&T. In July, Smith took over as the area's new head for the cable company that has long felt the wrath of customers and towns across the Puget Sound region for poor customer service and postponed system upgrades. A veteran of the cable industry, Smith is charged with leading the Western region of the former TCI and transforming it into the Broadband & Internet Services division for telecommunications giant AT&T. AT&T plans to provide a host of telecommunications services, including local and long-distance phone service, Internet access and cable-television connections over the cables that run into TCI's 1.5 million households in Washington state. But persuading customers to forgive TCI's past and trust its network as the path to the future makes Smith's already daunting challenges in this competitive landscape even tougher. Smith, 51, has the benefit and disadvantage of coming from outside the TCI culture. He doesn't share TCI's reputation. But he also must adjust to a new company and mold that company in a new direction. He started in the cable industry in 1977, working for Cox Cable Communications. He moved to Times Mirror Cable TV in southern California in 1982. After 13 years with Times Mirror, he took another job with Media One/Continental Cablevision as its senior vice president for the Western region. Smith then decided to retire from the business and play golf. The retirement lasted two months before he accepted the president's post with Rogers Cablesystems, Canada's largest cable company. Even then he wouldn't sit still. Two months later, a mentor with AT&T convinced Smith to leave Rogers and head west to handle that region's transition of TCI into AT&T's new division. It seems a strange choice in some ways. TCI has steadily angered towns around the Puget Sound region for service disruptions and broken promises on upgrading cable service. Customers complained about rude employees working the customer-service line. The company was even the target of spoofs on local comedy show "Almost Live." ...