GadgetCrowd

Techdirt Corporate Intelligence: Techdirt Wireless:
For years, many people have been asking for “naked DSL” — the ability to get DSL without also having to pay for phone service. While Qwest became a supporter of naked DSL early on, the other big telcos refused to budge. They would either say there was no demand, or they would announce it, delay it and then not really offer it — even as they claimed they did. Even better, was BellSouth, which tried to jump on the naked DSL bandwagon by offering something totally different and calling it naked DSL. So, with that in mind, we’re still a bit skeptical whenever the big telcos say they’re going to offer naked DSL. Broadband Reports notes that AT&T and Verizon are now required to offer naked DSL, as part of their various merger agreements. However, it’s still not clear exactly when this will happen, or what form it will take. Given how hard the telcos (with the exception of Qwest) have fought this, it’s likely that the eventual naked DSL offerings may be “naked,” but will have so many strings attached, that they’ll feel pretty well clothed.