AP Online, Monday, March 17, 1997 at 14:07
By JEANNINE AVERSA
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - John Sviokla jokes that his Newton, Mass.,
neighbors have ``cable envy.'' But it's not because of the shows he
can get. Sviokla is using his cable TV line to surf the Internet,
shop, download work files, exchange e-mail and help his five
children with homework.
He is one of several thousand people who are using powerful
devices called cable modems to link their personal computers to
cable TV lines. Users can watch TV while they tour cyberspace over
the same cable line.
Showcased at the cable convention here, cable modems can move
text, voice and pictures 50 to 100 times faster over cable TV lines
than standard telephone modems used to send and receive information
over personal computers.
They're also faster than the telephone company's high-speed data
lines using ``ISDN'' technology.
``For $50 bucks a month, I think it's a bargain for the speed
I'm getting,'' says Continental Cablevision customer Sviokla. ``It
flies.''
Sviokla does have one complaint: To hook up another computer in
his house to the service, he would be charged a second, full
monthly rate on top of another installation fee. That policy is not
unusual.
Other companies that began selling the high-speed cable hookups
over the past six months include Time Warner Cable, Cox Cable
Communications, Comcast Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc.
Akron, Ohio; Baltimore; Hartford, Conn.; Sarasota, Fla.; Orange
County, Calif. and San Diego are some of the markets where the
service is now offered. Many more markets are slated.
Companies charge on average about $100 to install the service.
Monthly fees range from $34.95 to $60 a month, depending on the
market and whether the buyer is already a cable customer of the
company. That fee includes modem rental, unlimited Internet access,
e-mail and, in some cases, unlimited local or regional content like
a cybertour through the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, listings
of community events and shopping services.
To provide service, companies are spending billions of dollars
to upgrade their cable plants.
The biggest challenge: making sure the ``return path'' - the
cable from a customer's home to the main cable plant - is free from
interference that can disrupt computer messages.
Another problem: getting the knack of installing the service,
which usually requires two technicians.
``I can tell you the first couple of installations took three
people about seven hours,'' recalls Steve Hill, senior vice
president of broadband data service for Continental. The average
installation is about two hours.
``I just hope I don't move. I'd hate to lose the service now
that I have it,'' says John Moore, a Time Warner customer in Silver
Lake, Ohio.
Moore pays $39.95 a month, about the same as the second
telephone line he used to rent for his computer so he'd have a free
line for calls.
Once uniform technical standards are implemented, people will be
able to buy cable modems - rather than rent them - from retailers.
When that happens, a cable modem will work on any cable TV line.
But that's not the case now. The cable industry's research and
development facility, called Cable Labs, announced at the show here
Sunday a final set of technical specifications, moving consumers a
crucial step closer to the day when they purchase the devices in
stores.
Prudential Securities estimates cable modem business will grow
from $40 million this year to more than $450 million in 2000. By
then, cable companies should be making an estimated $1.6 billion
from high-speed data services.
After being the butt of jokes for years about shoddy service,
companies are striving to get high customer service marks from
cable modem users. Customers say outages are rare, though a storm
can knock out or disrupt service just as it does with cable TV.
Cable modem makers include Motorola, Bay Networks' LANcity,
General Instrument, Scientific-Atlanta and Hewlett-Packard.
They are showcasing their devices along with cable modem
newcomer 3Com Corp. which plans to have a modem on the market by
late summer. Another newcomer, U.S. Robotics, also is displaying
network technology that would help cable modems run faster.
Some companies offering high-speed data connections:
TIME WARNER
- Road Runner service is now available in Akron and Canton,
Ohio, several towns in upstate New York and San Diego
- Accounts for ``several thousand'' cable modem customers
- Plans to expand service to Portland, Maine; Albany, N.Y., and
Columbus, Ohio, this year. By the end of the year, expects to have
the service available to systems serving 4.5 million homes, about
one-third of the company's total cable customer base.
- Installation fee: from $60 to $100
- Average monthly rate $40, includes modem rental and unlimited
Internet access.
TELE-COMMUNICATIONS
-(At)Home is available in Fremont, Calif.; Hartford, Conn., and
Arlington Heights, Ill.
- Declined to provide subscriber figures.
- Declined to identify other markets under consideration.
- Installation fee $150.
- Monthly charges range from $34.95 to $39.95. Includes modem
rental, unlimited Internet access and other content.
CONTINENTAL
- Highway One is available in suburban Boston and Detroit and in
Jacksonville, Fla.
- Accounts for 3,000 customers.
- By the end of the year, the service will be offered in
Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.
- Installation fee: $99
- Continental charges anywhere from $34.95 to $59.95 a month,
depending on the market and whether the customers buys the
company's cable service. The monthly charge includes the modem
rental fee and unlimited Internet access.
COMCAST
- (At)Home is offered in Baltimore County, Md., and Sarasota,
Fla.
- Accounts for ``a few hundred'' customers.
- By midyear, the company will expand service to Orange County,
Calif., northern New Jersey, Philadelphia and suburban Detroit.
- Installation fee: $175 without promotional discounts.
- Depending on the market, charges from $40 to $60 a month for
leasing the modem, unlimited Internet access and other services.
COX
-(At)Home is in Orange County, Calif.
- Customers number ``in the hundreds.''
- Plans to soon add Phoenix and San Diego.
- Installation fee ranges from $99 to $174.95
- The company charges $44.95 a month for Cox cable customers and
$54.95 for others. The fee includes modem rental, unlimited
Internet access and other services. |
