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LT4 GS
Snake Eater
Premium
join:2001-12-23
Angels .5
|  [News] GrandRabids.........ONLY!! (as of 2/20/2k2)
I am reasonably sure that the majority of you have seen this or something similar.........but just in case you have not .........this is an update from the local press...........
Comcast arrival brings another change of address
Thursday, February 20, 2003
By Chris Knape
The Grand Rapids Press
More than 400,000 former AT& Broadband cable modem users in Michigan will need to change their e-mail addresses this year -- again.
The migration of all e-mail addresses ending in @attbi.com to addresses ending in @comcast.net will begin within the next few weeks, Comcast officials said.
The e-mail address changes will be the most visible result of Comcast's $60 billion purchase of AT& Broadband late last year. Comcast officially dropped the AT& Broadband name Friday.
Comcast is making the transition this week in West Michigan. Customers here will see the Comcast name on trucks, the company's local headquarters and on monthly bills.
Comcast's Grand Rapids-based western Michigan service area includes 312,000 subscribers in Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon, Adrian and Jackson. The company has a separate business unit in charge of AT& Broadband customers in southwestern Michigan communities.
There are no immediate plans to add channels or services such as video on demand and high definition cable service in the Grand Rapids and Holland areas, Comcast officials said.
The e-mail address change is the second for many customers in western Michigan over the past year.
Thousands of e-mail addresses were changed last year after ExciteAtHome went out of business. ExciteAtHome provided high-speed Internet service in AT& Broadband's Grand Rapids-area cable television service area.
Comcast will begin contacting customers with @attbi.com e-mail addresses over the next few weeks to explain the change, said Richard Ruggiero, Comcast's regional vice president of corporate affairs.
"The good news is we learned a couple of weeks ago that e-mail to customers' @attbi.com addresses will land in their comcast.net addresses until December of 2004," Ruggiero said.
The e-mail address changes are necessary because AT& retained ownership of the attbi.com domain name following the sale of its broadband unit to Comcast.
The only other near-term change Comcast will bring to the area is a new unified billing system, Comcast officials said.
Cable and high-speed Internet bills have been combined. For some, the combination will be accompanied a 35 percent price increase for Internet service.
Not all customers are pleased with the changes.
Bob Ptak of Jenison was taken aback by a letter he received in January that said the monthly cost of his high-speed Internet connection would rise from $42.95 to $57.95 in February.
"I think it stinks," said Ptak, who spends about two hours surfing the Internet each day. "I don't see how they're going to stay in business doing that."
Ptak is among about one in five Comcast Internet customers who subscribe to its high-speed cable modem service who don't also get its television service, Ruggiero said.
"It is a competitive price when you look at what other services are available and the price," he said.
Grudgingly, Ptak said, he paid for 12 months of Internet service in advance to keep the AT& rate. Next year, he said, he will consider getting high-speed service from another provider.
The price of high-speed Internet service remained $42.95 for customers who subscribe to any Comcast television package.
AT& Broadband had separate billing for its cable and Internet services and did not offer "bundled" service. Comcast officials said its new Internet and television packages offer greater value and convenience.
In January, cable television rates rose an average of 6.9 percent in the Grand Rapids area and 7.9 percent in the Holland area.. Comcast officials said the boosts were the result of a previously planned increase by AT& Broadband.
The cable-TV rate increases reflected the growing value of its service and the increasing costs of carrying some networks, Ruggiero said. Comcast officials said the company's initial moves in the Grand Rapids market have been to enhance service and get a new management team in place.
Video on demand and high-definition cable service will not be available until later this year or early 2004.
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"Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way, Life Begins @180mph!"
( www.computercops.biz )(www.corvetteactioncenter.com Moderator )
[text was edited by author 2003-02-24 16:13:36] | |
LT4 GS
Snake Eater
Premium
join:2001-12-23
Angels .5
| And this is a key piece.............
 :):)
"The good news is we learned a couple of weeks ago ........that e-mail to customers' @attbi.com addresses will land in their comcast.net addresses........... until December of 2004," Ruggiero said.
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"Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way, Life Begins @180mph!" ( www.computercops.biz )(www.corvetteactioncenter.com Moderator ) | |
steven s
Premium
join:2002-09-14
Dearborn, MI
 ·WOW Internet and C..
| reply to LT4 GS
Re: [News] GrandRabids.........ONLY!! (as of 2/20/2k2)
Oh, woe is you, us Comcast users had to change our email a lot. First we had either @mediaone.net or @home.com addys. Then Comcast bought out MediaOne and @home went bankrupt, so we had to change it to an unreasonable oldusername362547456425624535353STATEABBREVEATION@comcast.net, so then people told people that addy, then Comcast said "well, uh, now you can change it to without the numbers", so that equals 3 times for us too, so stop complaining. Good thing I switched to WOW though, where they [gasp] care about people.
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Let's go State!! | |
LT4 GS
Snake Eater
Premium
join:2001-12-23
Angels .5
|  no one is complaining...............read closer ......this was merely information for those in GR trying to figure out what is going on.......since no one from attbi has said anything........this is news.....since you are from canton......it didn't apply.......RTFFP!
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"Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way, Life Begins @180mph!" ( www.computercops.biz )(www.corvetteactioncenter.com Moderator ) | |
Reck Havoc
Premium
join:2002-07-31
Grand Rapids, MI | Great news about the email address change.. | |
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