Dave Burstein who writes DSL Prime, the best newsletter on DSL points out…

To get orders in before the end of the quarter, Dell through March 28 is selling for $379 a 2.8 gig Pentium 4, a 15 inch flat screen monitor, a printer, and free shipping, an offer I didn’t refuse. On the Dell site, I discovered that through March 31, they were offering Verizon or SBC new subscribers three months free, free modem, and a $50 Dell rebate. You didn’t even need to buy a Dell computer, although this was for new users only. Separately, SBC has a 12 month for $19.95/month deal for new subs, also till the end of March. To avoid the wrath of current customers SBC will extend that offer to current users as well, if they insist upon contacting “DSL Retention,” per DSL Reports. BellSouth has a $9.95 trial for some new DSL users. SBC’s pricing is working, with Rick Lindner seeing net adds in Q1 similar to as the prior quarter. Promotions like this are a regular part of the business, and often distort quarterly results. That’s why I try not to over-analyze a single good or bad quarterly result.