[Re :(Not) Making Sense Of The New High-Speed Internet Technologies]
BellBoy,
Thanks for the article, and your input to the thread.
From the SmartMoney magazine article:
"The one technology that rivals cable modems in speed is the asymmetric digital subscriber line, or ADSL, which some phone companies and Internet service providers are slowly starting to roll out now. But its availability is still limited, and it's not expected to become affordable for residential users for several years."
When I read statements like the above, I tend not to rely on the author for factual information. I'm sure he did some research to write the article, though IMO he has not done due diligence. Therefore I would tend to evaluate each paragraph in the rest of the article one by one.
With most technologies I would agree with the statement by By David Stires.
In most cases it does take years of providing a new technology to businesses before the cost comes down to the consumer level, but I don't see this in the case of ADSL.
The modems should be in the price range of $250. ea. by the end of 1998.
I know Amati is aiming for a $500. end to end solution. Of course the DSLAM transceivers will be able to "handle 4 users each", and this figure is likely to increase in the future. But the consumer end modem should be around $250. in the near term, which allows the service to be deployed to the masses at a reasonable cost if the providers don't use the Cable companies philosophy, and over charge the subscriber.
I've written here in the past that $100. a month is not an unreasonable rate for the speed, and time saved, though I would expect to see the cost a little lower.
I believe the days of unlimited Net access at 28.8 and 56K for $19.95 are "very" limited. So when ADSL does arrive to the mass, the cost increase should not be that great. I hope when the rates increase we can at least get QOS (Quality of Service)from our ISP's at these Sloooooooow speeds.
All IMHO
JW@KSC |
