What is "internet service without internet access"?
June 24, 2017 11:18 AM Subscribe
While looking for something unrelated on my ISP's web site, I came across a pricing document that included, in addition to normal internet products, "HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SERVICE (Not Including Internet Access or ISP Features)". What does it even mean to have internet service and not internet access? What is the use of this?
Here's the pricing document. It's all residential services. This service is on page 7. I haven't been able to find any other references to it on their (terrible) web site.
The price is a little less expensive than actual internet service (the kind with internet access), and they only list some relatively low broadband speeds.
Have you ever heard of this before? Have you ever used it? (How??)
Here's the pricing document. It's all residential services. This service is on page 7. I haven't been able to find any other references to it on their (terrible) web site.
The price is a little less expensive than actual internet service (the kind with internet access), and they only list some relatively low broadband speeds.
Have you ever heard of this before? Have you ever used it? (How??)
This is a product of theirs which I think they also call "Broadband for resale" meaning you buy it from them but you act as the ISP and you can resell it to others. They explain lower on that page posted by jessamyn at 11:23 AM on June 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
An Internet Service Provider who purchases wholesale DSL services from an incumbent will pay a certain rate for what is essentially a circuit between you and them, which would then require them to provide the actual Internet access and any features such as personal web sites or e-mail services.
There are also situations where an incumbent will provide DSL for the purposes of connecting remote branch offices over a VPN service, which is a scenario where "not including Internet Access or ISP features" might be a plausible description of the service. This would be a service that ran entirely over the incumbent's infrastructure, so, you would be able to reach other CenturyLink customers, but not the general Internet, and they wouldn't be provisioning e-mail addresses or other value-adds for you.
It isn't really clear which of these things might be the case here.
posted by jgreco at 4:40 PM on June 24, 2017
There are also situations where an incumbent will provide DSL for the purposes of connecting remote branch offices over a VPN service, which is a scenario where "not including Internet Access or ISP features" might be a plausible description of the service. This would be a service that ran entirely over the incumbent's infrastructure, so, you would be able to reach other CenturyLink customers, but not the general Internet, and they wouldn't be provisioning e-mail addresses or other value-adds for you.
It isn't really clear which of these things might be the case here.
posted by jgreco at 4:40 PM on June 24, 2017
Back in 2008, I had Qwest before they merged into CenturyLink and had a frustrating encounter with their customer service where, in the process of selling me internet access, insisted I would need to "provide my own ISP." After several rounds of "We provide internet service, we aren't an ISP", it became clear that they thought an "ISP" was a piece of software akin to AOL.
I have no idea what "without internet access" could mean, but based on previous experience, it would in no way surprise me if it didn't mean "without internet access".
posted by hoyland at 3:25 AM on June 25, 2017
I have no idea what "without internet access" could mean, but based on previous experience, it would in no way surprise me if it didn't mean "without internet access".
posted by hoyland at 3:25 AM on June 25, 2017
Before Centurylink (née Qwest, née US West, etc.), Frontier (née Verizon, née GTE, etc.), Xfinity, tw telecom, etc., etc., etc. were your only real options for Internet you used to be able to buy your Internet in the form of dialup over their copper lines from a separate ISP. Once broadband became a thing (first in the form of ISDN, then several varieties of DSL) you'd typically buy the line from an ILEC--the people who eventually (re)monopolized the shit out of things on the telco side--or occasionally a CLEC (who were essentially middlemen in the process) and your internet access separately from those same good ol' ISPs.
Eventually the telcos wised up that they were giving away business that they could just take over for themselves, right around the time that cable internet was taking off, and started forcefully slamming customers over to their nascent internet services. They often maintain the old without internet services for folks who have managed to avoid slamming or gotten grumpy enough about it.
Having worked at an ISP for that whole Dial-up>DSL>Cable Internet+Slamming cycle that's my best guess, but there was also a similar "no internet access" service we offered for branch offices to hit email or other resources that were hosted by their parent corp or in our colo facilities or by us directly.
posted by togdon at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2017
Eventually the telcos wised up that they were giving away business that they could just take over for themselves, right around the time that cable internet was taking off, and started forcefully slamming customers over to their nascent internet services. They often maintain the old without internet services for folks who have managed to avoid slamming or gotten grumpy enough about it.
Having worked at an ISP for that whole Dial-up>DSL>Cable Internet+Slamming cycle that's my best guess, but there was also a similar "no internet access" service we offered for branch offices to hit email or other resources that were hosted by their parent corp or in our colo facilities or by us directly.
posted by togdon at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2017
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