SBC, Yahoo! Unveil Enhancements to DSL and Dial

by , Sep 16, 2003, 12:00 AM
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The second largest telephone company in the United States and one of the top three online properties in the world on Tuesday unveiled a number of enhancements to their joint broadband venture, which will offer consumers help with the two biggest plagues of the Internet experience - pop-ups and spam.

SBC Communications Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. have introduced a suite of new customer-driven features for SBC Yahoo! DSL and Dial, including enhanced safety and security, improved communications tools and even greater levels of user personalization.

"Our success in the market has proven the power of the combination of Yahoo!'s world-renowned brand and SBC's leading market position in driving increased broadband adoption," said Terry Semel, chairman and CEO, Yahoo! Inc. "We've listened to our users' feedback and are continuously enhancing our product offering to provide the most innovative broadband experience. We are excited to be unveiling the best SBC Yahoo! DSL offering yet."

The alliance between SBC and Yahoo! has helped contribute to record SBC Yahoo! DSL subscriber gains in the first and second quarters of 2003, part of six consecutive quarters of accelerated SBC DSL subscriber growth. SBC Communications last week did announce that it will cut jobs and reduce capital spending in response to lower demand for its core local telephone business, but in the past quarter, SBC companies gained 304,000 new DSL customers, the largest quarterly growth ever by a DSL provider in the United States.

The enhancements to the DSL service include:

  • Pop Up Ad Blocking. Integrated into the new SBC Yahoo! browser, this new feature enables members to adjust settings to control the quantity and type of pop ups they receive, or block them completely.

  • More Complete Anti-virus Protection. Going beyond just email virus protection, users can choose to receive free anti-virus protection for their entire computer.

  • Expanded Parental Controls. Building on one of the most extensive parental controls offerings available, SBC Yahoo! Parental Controls now include settings for kids, teens, mature teens and full access, and are customizable for each sub account. The controls extend beyond Web browsing to also include email, instant messaging and chat. Children can send permission slips to parents requesting access to unauthorized websites and parents can manage settings, view usage reports and act upon requests for exceptions from any Web-connected computer.

  • Safety Status Bar. Integrated into the SBC Yahoo! browser for quick access, this tool gives members status indications on blocked pop ups and parental controls settings.

  • Drag and Drop Sharing. One of the most valuable and interesting new features, users can now drag and drop photos, files and links from the Web or local computers to emails, instant messages and online storage, dramatically increasing the ease of sending such attachments.

  • Email Marketing Tools. Members who choose this powerful premium service will plan and manage an email permission marketing campaign through Got Marketing's Campaigner service, which allows small businesses to send, manage and track their permission based email campaigns.

  • Additional Email Storage. This choice premium service will give members an additional 25 megabytes of email storage for SBC Yahoo! Dial Members or 50 megabytes of email storage for SBC Yahoo! DSL Members, providing space for more email and attachments.
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