Verizon lures dial-up users with new DSL bundles

If you're one of those dial-up Internet customers that's still not convinced that broadband is too expensive, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) hopes its new bare bones voice/DSL bundles could seduce you to the broadband side.

Targeted at existing and new Verizon landline customers, the service provider is offering two new lower-priced dual-play bundled deals that include768 Kbps to 1 Mbps DSL service and Regional Value calling plan with unlimited local and regional toll calling.

As an obvious landline retention scheme, existing Verizon landline customers only have to pay $34.99, while new users have to pay $44.99 a month. Of course, both offers require users to sign a one-year contract where the broadband connection price will likely rise after the grace period ends.

In addition, existing and new users can bundle DSL and voice with DIRECTV CHOICE satellite video service for $64.99 and $74.99 per month with one year Verizon agreement and two-year DIRECTV contracts.

FiOS may be Verizon's future-one that continues to eat at its existing DSL subscriber base--but these new DSL-centric offerings shows that the service provider is trying to at least thwart the cable threat in markets where it's currently not available. As of the end of the second quarter, Verizon had 9.3 million broadband subscribers, a 2.5 percent year-over-year increase. The service provider claims that an increase in increase in FiOS Internet connections offset DSL losses.  

For more:
- see the release here

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