New Naked DSL Offerings Provide Consumers More Internet Choices

In just under a decade, Broadband internet connections have moved from relative obscurity to being the norm for most American households. Dial-up internet connections are becoming increasingly rare, and DSL, cable, and cellular based connections are becoming the norm. Prices have also dropped from potentially hundreds of dollars per month to just $30 or $40 a month. Now consumers will have even more choice with the a new offering from the telecom industry called Naked DSL.

A digital subscriber line (DSL) is a technology that allows users to connect to the internet at high-speeds through their existing land-line telephone system. The beauty of DSL is that even though it goes through the phone-line, it does not prevent you from making or receiving calls while it's in use like traditional dial-up connections did. In addition, the connection speeds provided by DSL is magnitudes faster than that of dial-up internet connections.

In order to get a DSL connection, users have to have a phone-line with their local telecom that will be providing the DSL. This wasn't a problem a decade ago when it was just a standard thing to do to have a phone line, but now more and more consumers are moving to exclusively have cellular phones and not having a physical-line in their home. This means that customers who want DSL have to fork over an extra fee just to have that land-line in place, even though they will likely never use it.

Telecom companies have made a killing pushing phone-lines onto people who won't use them, but consumers have wised up and instead largely signed up for a competitive service from the cable companies. In order to combat this trend, AT&T is now experimenting with what's called "naked dsl," or a digital subscriber line that does not require the customer to have a physical landline.

AT&T is currently rolling out naked DSL in a few different trial markets including Chicago, Austin, and Jacksonville Florida. Customers in these markets will be able to purchase naked DSL from anywhere from $20 to $24 a month, which is substantially cheaper than paying $30 to $40 a month for a cable based connection. If the test launch is successful, AT&T will likely launch the service in additional markets. Other telecom companies are also looking at launching naked DSL services in the near future as well.

It may be a few years before Naked DSL is a commonly available product, but it will likely be an excellent deal when it arrives in your market.