broadband chewing into wireless router sales

Several months ago, when we moved into our new home, I signed up for DSL and got a great deal from SBC/AT&T - $12.99/month for a year. Granted, this "introductory" price will change at the end of the year, but I'm not required to stay with them if I don't agree with the new rate at that time.

As is typical when changing high speed internet service, I had to buy a new DSL modem. Apparently the modem that I had purchased when I last had DSL from Qwest wasn't good enough, or they didn't support it. No big deal - AT&T provided me with a rebate that made my new modem nearly free.

I looked around before picking up this deal, and one of the things I had noticed was that every broadband provider that I had researched was offering a modem with wireless router capabilities. Although I didn't need a wireless router (I already had a nice Belkins one), I decided to go ahead and spend the extra bucks to have the router and modem in one. Why? So that if I had any trouble, AT&T couldn't try to pin the blame on my router. Makes sense, right? Sometimes spending a little more is worth it, especially if it means avoiding potential frustration with a phone company's tech support. This falls into a topic that I have covered in the past - the modern version of paying more for convenience.

None-the-less, I can't help but wonder if there are more people like me out there who have picked up a modem with wireless capabilities, and therefore didn't need to buy one separately. I wonder how much this is eating into the profits of wireless router manufacturers. If they don't have a deal established with a certain broadband provider, they may be in trouble.

Sure, wireless is still the "way of the future" (or really the "way of the now"), and there will be business users who still require wireless routers for adding more throughput and flexible connectivity to their existing setup, but for the most part I would be selling my stock in those wireless companies if I were you. We are on the verge of "he death of dial-up" anyway.