Qwest and IXC join big boys with DSL
offerings
Digital subscriber line local access option less
expensive than alternative connections.
By TIM GREENE
Network World, 08/09/99
Long-haul carriers Qwest and IXC
are separately adding digital
subscriber line services to their local
access portfolios, enabling customers to tie remote
offices to central sites for less than alternative methods.
Customers can go to one carrier and order the local
access and long-distance segments of the service rather
than dealing with two separate providers.
Although it is not available in as many places as
dedicated lines, 1.5M bit/sec DSL service at $300 to $400
per month is less expensive than alternative connections.
T-1 lines, for instance, can cost more than $1,000 per
month.
Analysts say Qwest and IXC should give long-distance
leaders AT&T, MCIWorldCom and Sprint, which
already offer DSL access services, a good fight in the
DSL market.
"It's still a young market," says Jilani Zeribi, an analyst
with Current Analysis, a consultancy in Sterling, Va.
"There's no dominant leader by any stretch of the
imagination."
Getting a little help
Qwest and IXC are using other service providers to set
up DSL links between their backbones and customer
sites. Qwest and IXC then drop the traffic onto the
Internet or transfer it to other customer sites.
Qwest's service will be offered in conjunction with
Covad Communications and Rhythms NetConnections,
two carriers specializing in establishing local-loop DSL
connections. Qwest has invested in both companies.
IXC is using NorthPoint Communications and plans to
add other partners.
Teaming up with other carriers to provide DSL is a
model followed by other carriers, such as
MCIWorldCom and DSLnetworks (see story, page 25).
"It gives them better coverage," Zeribi says.
Qwest promises to offer enhancements in the future,
including virtual private networks, voice over IP and
application hosting over high-speed DSL wires, but
would not say when.
Qwest expanding
Speeds for the Qwest service range from 128K bit/sec to
7M bit/sec, and the service costs between $119 and $849
per month (see graphic, page 8). Qwest charges a $500
installation fee.
The Qwest service is available in Boston; Chicago; Los
Angeles; New York; Oakland, Calif.; Orange County,
Calif.; Philadelphia; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; San
Francisco; San Jose; Seattle and Washington, D.C. Later
this year, 19 more cities will be added.
Meanwhile, IXC is offering DSL service through its
retail subsidiary Eclipse Telecommunications.
IXC's service speeds range from 160K bit/sec to 1.5M
bit/sec, and the service costs $229 to $679 per month,
depending on speed and the length of the service
contract.
The price includes Internet access, and there is a $325
installation fee.
IXC's service is available in Austin, Texas, San Diego
and Los Angeles.
By year-end it will also be available in New York;
Chicago; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Boston;
Dallas; Houston; Atlanta; Miami; Philadelphia; Phoenix
and Tampa.
Qwest: www.qwest.com; IXC: www.eclipsetel.com.
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