To ALL:
Investor Business Daily(IBD) introduces ADSL technologies today:
(found on America Online's IBD)
If cable firms think they have phone companies over a barrel with
high-speed cable modems, they should think again.
Regional phone firms are testing a new type of modem that lets users
access the Internet at speeds equal to those of cable modems. And while cable
firms may need to lay new cable for two-way data movement, the new phone
modems use the same copper lines that now carry voice to U.S. homes.
The technology is called asymmetrical digital subscriber line. Most ADSL
modems now in tests can send data about 50 times faster than today's fastest
standard phone modems can. And they're 20 times faster than ISDN, the digital
phone technology now used for fast Internet access.
Like ISDN, ADSL lets users make phone calls and pull data off the Net on
the same line at the same time.
ADSL has been around for some time. But interest in it has climbed this
year.
The whole Internet business is clamoring for fast ways to ''surf the
Net,'' especially the graphics-rich portion called the World Wide Web.
Most on-line users wait almost a minute to download one color picture.
ADSL could have the same picture on a computer screen in less than a second.
''This technology is very attractive to phone companies and should be
easy to deploy,'' said Lisa Pelgrim, an analyst with research firm Dataquest
Inc. in San Jose, Calif. ''But they'll need to roll it out soon.''
Several cable giants aim to offer data transmission over parts of their
networks by late this year. And providers of microwave-beamed ''wireless
cable'' and satellite television plan fast Internet access service next year.
''ADSL has the potential of being a very big technology,'' said Rick
Hronicek, president of Pacific Bell Internet Services in San Francisco. ''But
we're still looking at the business plan. The technology is so new we don't
want to jump the gun.''
Hronicek's firm is part of Pacific Telesis Group. It plans to launch
ADSL tests this summer.
Several U.S. phone companies have ADSL trials on now and expect to
launch commercial service early next year.
The technology was first seen as a way to send video over phone lines.
Bell Atlantic Corp., in fact, is using ADSL in an interactive TV trial with
2,000 customers in Virgina.
But with Internet use surging, ADSL has been redefined as a high-speed
data transmission method.
GTE Corp. has tests going in Dallas and Irving, Texas. US West
Communications Group will try out ADSL data service with hundreds of
customers in four cities this summer.
Makers of ADSL modems include Westell Technologies Inc. of Oswego, Ill.;
Amati Communications Corp., San Jose, Calif.; privately held Aware Inc.,
Bedford, Mass.; PairGain Technologies Inc., Tustin, Calif.; and AT&T
Paradyne, Largo, Fla.
Most of the modems in tests let users retrieve 1.5 megabits of data a
second. Future versions are expected to run at 10 megabits a second. At that
speed, about 500 pages of text can be sent in a second.
Also attractive to phone companies is the speed at which ADSL users can
ship data to other computers. The new modems can send files ''upstream''
about 20 times faster than today's modems; that makes them fast enough for
sharp video meetings.
Such tasks aren't so easy for cable modems.
''Cable firms will have to rewire their systems to send high-speed
signals up and down the cable,'' said Clete Gardenhour, director of business
development at AT&T Paradyne, a unit of AT&T Corp.
Electronic interference also is a problem. Microwave signals and blow
dryers are just two of the many things that can trip up modems if the cable
line is not well protected. And cable firms must upgrade the entire delivery
system for each neighborhood they target; ADSL can be rolled out one customer
at a time.
To provide the service, phone companies connect modems to each end of a
phone line. One is in the central phone switching office and the other at the
customer's home or business.
ADSL still has hurdles to leap, though. For starters, the modems - some
known by the acronyms HDSL, SDSL and the generic xDSL - differ from one
vendor to the next.
A user's modem must match the technology of the local service provider.
Also, unless the players agree to use industry-standard chip sets and other
electronics, they'll have a hard time getting the cost of modems down soon.
''It's still a rather expensive technology, but as volumes pick up we
hope to see a drastic drop in the cost,'' said Steve Lane, a product
developer at Interprise, the US West unit testing ADSL.
The cost to hook up one customer for ADSL service is about $1,500 now,
says Lane.
''We'd like to see that drop to $400,'' he said. That would include the
cost of the user's modem, which might be leased from the phone company.
Another worry could be distance. To get ADSL service, users must be
within about three miles of a phone switching center. That could be a problem
in thinly populated areas.
The quality of the copper line also makes a difference. Transmission
speeds will slow if the quality is poor.
''I'm skeptical of ADSL,'' said John Prisco, president and chief
operating officer of CAI Wireless Systems Inc. ''It's an attempt to squeeze
out the last bit of life from aging copper lines. I don't think it will be a
mainstream device for connectivity to the Net.''
CAI Wireless, based in Albany, N.Y., is a leading wireless cable firm.
It recently began testing a one-way data service that delivers 10 megabits a
second. By year-end, it expects to be able to boost that to 27 megabits,
Prisco adds.
The phone companies themselves likely will test Internet access services
based on wireless cable. But like cable modems, wireless cable products can't
now send data upstream at high speeds.
Prisco insists that's no problem.
''The vast majority of Internet users are browsers who don't need to
send files,'' he said. ''Whoever offers the fastest access at the best price
will get market share.''
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Copyright (c) 1996 Investors Business Daily, All rights reserved.
Investor's Business Daily - Computers & Technology (06/13/96)
Will New Phone Modems Leave Cable In The Dust?
By Brian Deagon
Transmitted: 6/12/96 9:12 PM (aaab4y4x) |
