What's a cash-strapped phone company to do when you're unable to provide a quality, next-generation broadband or IPTV product to most of your footprint? Why a marketing campaign that pretends you offer a next-generation product, of course. Taking a page from the Comcast Xfinity playbook (sans serious network upgrade), Windstream Communications has decided to rebrand their DSL services under the product name Merge.

While they're calling it a "new high-speed Internet and streaming entertainment service," Merge simply takes the company's existing slow DSL (in 3, 6 and 12 Mbps flavors), and bundles it with unlimited phone, a free Roku streaming box, and six free months of Hulu Plus. Prices for this bundle start at 62.99 for six months, not including the usual assortment of surcharges and a $75 activation fee.

"We created Merge to give our customers access to something better: what we call the ‘entertainment superhighway," says a Windstream marketing executive. You'll notice (or more likely, you won't) Windstream goes out of their way at the Merge website, in the press release and throughout the order process to avoid mentioning at exactly what speed you'll be travelling this superhighway at, largely because most of Winstream's customers are lucky to get 3-6 Mbps.

Windstream hiked most DSL prices in January, and our user reviews for Windstream service aren't anything to write home about. Users consistently complain of slower-than-advertised speeds, or connections that slow down during peak usage hours -- things that a brand refresh aren't going to help. The name is a curious choice as well, bringing to mind gridlock (like the George Washington Bridge at 4:30 PM) long before it brings to mind cutting edge speed.

We've talked a lot lately how more rural-focused telcos (Windstream, CenturyLink, Frontier, Fairpoint) are in a very tough spot. Lacking the funds or will to seriously upgrade their networks means most of their users are on pathetically slow (by 2011 standards) DSL lines often barely capable of 3 Mbps downstream. The result has been that cable operators are eating DSL's lunch, as users flock to faster speeds provided by relatively inexpensive DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades. The only reason many of these companies even remain alive is thanks to the monopoly presence they enjoy in many rural markets.