Valley Telephone Coop offers DSL-based Services Check It Out
Copyright c 1998 TeleChoice, Inc.
March 2, 1998 -- Valley Telephone Cooperative has announced the
availability of a 700 kilobit high speed Internet access service
throughout its coverage area. The service called DSL700 will be
offered at $36 per month for the local loop conditioning. Internet
Access service through VistaNet, its ISP, will be offered at $30 per
month.
Valley Telephone serves the rural ranch country between San Antonio
and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Valley Telephone provides
service in 17 Counties over 7,300 square miles to 5,300 customers or
.7 customers to the square mile.
VTC is one of the first small independents to offer an xDSL-based
service to its customers. It has 140+ Internet customers with 24
currently interested in the service. DSL700 is available across all 17
VTC exchanges. It intends to provide the service to every customer no
matter how remote.
In exploring further the pricing "philosophy" proposed by VTC,
TeleChoice obtained the following reference points supplied by Charles
Gowder (VTC's General Manager):
Internet access is the most risky as VTC must support the backbone
data network with NECA tariff priced T1s
Pricing is in two flavors:
1 to 2 computers- $36 (line conditioning) plus $30 = $66
3 plus computers- $36 (line conditioning) plus $90 = $126
Valley trialed the PairGain EtherPhone, an HDSL product, while it
is deploying PairGain's RADSL product?. The main reason VTC is not
offering a higher bit rate service is that it would have delayed the
rollout. The service is offered on the existing telephone line to
reduce the rate it must charge plus eliminating the need for a second
line to the customer. According to Charles Gowder, VTC's General
Manager, "PairGain is the only product VTC has found which could be
economically deployed in a low density market. The ability to
aggregate traffic and basic pricing made these numbers possible".
The school that helped VTC trial the service has 85 computers working
behind 1 DSL700 line.
The institution says it serves their needs just fine. VTC charges the
same for the line but $90 for the Internet service when more than 2
computers are connected. |
