What is SBC Yahoo! DSL?

SBC is a telecommunications company that provides phone and data services (soon to be renamed at&t).

Yahoo! is an Internet company that provides content services such as a search engine, portal (My Yahoo), email, messenger etc.

DSL is a high-speed data service that runs over standard phone lines provided by phone companies such as SBC.

Technically, the services provided by Yahoo! and SBC have nothing to do with each other. SBC provides the phone line and connection to your home so that you can get broadband (high speed) Internet service. Yahoo! simply provides web pages (content) and programs on the Internet that anybody can use regardless of whether they have DSL, Cable, or a dialup line. If you can connect to the Internet, then you can use Yahoo! services.

Connection vs. Content

In the past, the connection and the content usually came as a package. For example, if you had AOL, they gave you a phone number to dial to get the connection but then you could only use their content services. The same was true for CompuServe, Prodigy etc. This was even before the Internet got big. Each of these companies had their own network and usually you subscribed to just one of them. Once the Internet got big, most of those companies disappeared (got bought by other companies mostly) except for AOL. AOL maintained the connection/content combined service and there are still millions of people using it. The reason that most of the other companies disappeared is that now, all you really need to buy is a connection. There are millions of websites out there providing the content for free. So, as long as you can get a connection (through an ISP like EarthLink dialup or SBC DSL, or cable modem) you can get all the content you want for free on the web. 

So, you can get your connection through EarthLink and use the Yahoo services, and the Google services and the Excite services and whatever else you can find. You can also get your connection through SBC DSL or your cable company or some other dial-up provider. Either way, you can still use all of the services on the web. There is no longer any reason (that I can see) to pay for a connect/content combined service like AOL. These services usually install a bunch of useless programs on your computer that makes is slow and difficult to maintain. These services appeal to the masses who are confused about the differences between the connection and the content. They think it's all the same thing and they need some big company with pretty icons to help them get on the Internet.

Yahoo! and SBC get in bed together

Yahoo! and SBC created a joint marketing scheme (called SBC Yahoo! DSL) and have confused consumers by providing an apparent connection/content combined service similar to AOL. When most people purchase SBC Yahoo! DSL, they think that it's all one service and that they must use the included CD. They might also think that they can only connect to the Yahoo! content (as Yahoo! probably wants them to think). The included CD installs a bunch of useless programs that clogs up your computer and blurs the line between the connection and the content. Even the name of the browser icon is confusing. The icon to open up their browser (the SBC Yahoo! browser) is called SBC Yahoo! DSL. Well, you don't need DSL (or SBC at all) to use a browser and you don't have to view any Yahoo! content if you don't want to. In fact, you don't even need an Internet connection to use a browser. If you have web pages stored on your computer or local area network, you can use your browser to view them. Of course browsers are most useful when connected to the Internet, especially with a high-speed connection like DSL.

The SBC Yahoo! browser is is a customized version of Internet Explorer with a bunch of buttons that provide links to the Yahoo! services. It doesn't give you buttons for any other service. Now, I'm not saying that all Yahoo! services are bad, I use Yahoo! email myself. But what you should be aware of is that they have purposefully tried to make you think that the connection and the content are the same thing and that you don't have a choice of content. You absolutely have a choice! Once you have a connection (provided by SBC DSL or anyone else), you can view any content you want on the Internet, and you can use any browser that will run on your computer (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Opera or whatever). You don't have to use the browser they provided. In fact, I recommend that you don't use ANY browser based on Internet Explorer because it is the biggest cause of computer problems from viruses, spyware, phishing etc.

Don't be surprised if you see a Dell/Yahoo!/at&t Internet package someday where they sell you the computer, the content and the connection all at once. It's all in the marketing. By the way, Microsoft has tried to do the same thing with MSN but I don't think it's working out too well for them.

What, exactly, is a browser?

Many consumers don't know the difference between a browser and a website. A browser is simply a program that runs on your computer, similar to Word or Excel or Paint or Notepad etc. Several companies make browser programs (browsers) just like many companies make word processing programs or drawing programs. The browser made by Microsoft is called Internet Explorer and it is preinstalled on all Microsoft Windows based computers. The Mozilla foundation makes several different browsers including Netscape and Firefox. Apple makes a browser for the Mac OS and there are many browsers that run on the Linux OS (OS = operating system). All browsers do pretty much the same thing. They let you connect to web servers (computers connected to the Internet that are running a web server program) on the Internet to view web pages. When you connect to a particular web server (say www.yahoo.com), your browser requests that the web server send it a particular web page (a web page is a specially formatted text file with a name like index.htm). When the browser receives the page, it displays it and allows you to click links and buttons, fill out forms etc.

Part of the SBC Yahoo! DSL package is a browser program (called SBC Yahoo! Browser) that is installed when you run the CD. This program is basically a modified version of Internet Explorer. You don't need this browser. You already have Internet Explorer and you can download and use a different (better) browser if you want. I suggest Firefox.

Ok, but I like the pretty icons and stuff, can I get it?

Although the SBC Yahoo! browser is just a repackaged Internet Explorer, it does have some interesting features.

• Tabbed browsing, which the regular Internet Explorer does not yet have. It doesn't work as well as tabbed browsing in Firefox but it's better than nothing.
• Sidebar - this can include your Yahoo! messenger, news, sports etc. You could also get this separately to run with regular Internet Explorer
• Switch user - When you get an SBC Yahoo! DSL account, you get a regular Yahoo! account with some extras including additional users. The Switch User tool in the SBC Yahoo! browser lets you sign in and out of your Yahoo! sub-accounts quickly. This may be helpful if you take advantage of the multiple user feature (like a family might).
• Parental controls, pop-up blocker, anti-spyware etc. - These are all things that you could get from Yahoo! or elsewhere without having the SBC Yahoo! browser but the browser makes them easy to get and configure. If you already have some anti-virus and/or anti-spyware programs, you probably should not use the Yahoo! versions. Often if you have multiple programs trying to protect your system, they get in the way of each other or otherwise slow down the computer.
• Built-in search bar - but of course it's Yahoo! I prefer Google search and they make a toolbar for both Internet Explorer and Firefox (see picture above, but it won't work in the SBC Yahoo! browser). Of course you can still go to www.google.com to search if you want. Firefox also has a built-in search bar (without even getting the extra toolbar) but it can use just about any search engine you specify.
• On-line bookmarks. The Yahoo! browser takes your bookmarks from your My Yahoo page an puts them into the menu. This makes them easily available even if you are not currently viewing your My Yahoo! page. It can also take your existing Internet Explorer bookmarks and put them on your My Yahoo! page. I did this by accident and didn't like it.
• If you need an all-in-one type of browser/connection, then at least this is better than AOL.

Bad stuff about the SBC Yahoo! Browser

• It's based on Internet Explorer which is the main culprit for most computer security issues.
• It seems slow to me.
• The browser icons look very similar to the SBC Yahoo! DSL home page. This makes it look like the browser and the web page are the same thing (similar to AOL) but really they are not.
• Will not let you use third-party toolbars like the Google toolbar.

So, if you must have the SBC Yahoo! browser, you still don't need the CD that came with your DSL stuff, just use the link below. You need to use Internet Explorer to download and install the Yahoo! browser. You also need to have an SBC Yahoo! DSL account (this is a marketing requirement, NOT a technical requirement).

Yahoo SBC browser

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