7/98 Boardwatch. AOL Testing DSL Technology [do we know the supplier?]
boardwatch.internet.com
Big Board Briefs
by Wallace Wang
In an attempt to increase the number of customers they can service (and ultimately ignore), America Online has begun nationwide trials of Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) technology, which allows high-speed transmission of data over standard copper phone lines.
AOL is working with GTE Internetworking to set up the xDSL trials. Initial trials will take place in Birmingham, Alabama; Redmond, Washington; Phoenix, Arizona; San Francisco, California; and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The service will cost $49.95 per month, which includes the AOL subscriber fee.
If these trials prove successful, America Online plans to roll out similar xDSL service to other parts of the country while testing cable and wireless technology as well. With so many different ways to connect, America Online just has to worry about keeping their subscribers from defecting to rival Internet services.
PRODIGY 56 Kbps MODEMS STILL FLAKY
Think that since the latest 56 Kbps modems have finally settled on a standard that your modem standardization problems are over? Think again. Prodigy subscribers using 56 Kbps modems have found that the new V.90 modems still only connect at 28.8.
3Com confirmed a bug in early versions of the x2 firmware that prevents 3Com V.90 modems from properly negotiating a 56 Kbps connection with 3Com's Total Control remote-access equipment. Other online service members have not experienced similar problems so if you're a Prodigy user who hasn't upgraded to a 56 Kbps modem yet, keep your old modem. Or better yet, just switch to a different Internet provider and avoid Prodigy's current 56 Kbps woes altogether.
COMPUSERVE STUMBLES AGAIN
Despite its new ownership with America Online, CompuServe continues demonstrating to the world why they're no longer a major player in the online service market. Not only are they wasting time developing a proprietary user interface (dubbed CompuServe 4.0), but they're also
trying to merge their CompuServe content to the Internet at the same time.
To migrate their content to the Internet, CompuServe started offering a service called "C from CompuServe," which allowed access to several CompuServe forums from any Internet browser. But as of midnight on March 31, CompuServe decided to discontinue their "C from CompuServe" service, which debuted in January, just three months earlier.
CompuServe claims they plan to merge "C From CompuServe's" mix of Web-enabled products, news, communities, and forums into their new CompuServe 4.0 software, which should be available this summer. If CompuServe plans to merge their proprietary content to the Web, then why bother continuing to develop their CompuServe 4.0 interface software?
Looks like CompuServe is changing directions so often they're going nowhere instead. Check out CompuServe's Web site (www.compuserve.com) and you'll see that CompuServe hasn't bothered to provide any press releases at any time during 1998. Anyone want to place bets that CompuServe's executives will receive fat bonuses while the entire service drains away completely?
12 MILLION PEOPLE CHOOSE AOL
With the online market all but decimated, America Online continues attracting new members while their former rivals (CompuServe, Genie, Delphi, and Prodigy) quietly fade further into the background of oblivion. Recently America Online reported that it managed to service 675,000 users simultaneously without crashing the system, losing their e-mail, knocking them offline, or interrupting them with a busy signal, which was the previous hallmark of AOL service.
Now total membership in AOL has surpassed 12 million members. AOL's membership has grown by approximately five million since it introduced flat rate pricing in December 1996. The bulk of AOL subscribers continue to be people who are going online for the first time.
Interestingly, 52 percent of AOL's users are women, compared to 16 percent just four years ago.
The average AOL member uses the service an average of over 46 minutes online a day while AOL's computers handle over 28 million e-mail messages every day while sending 225 million Instant Messages as well.
With AOL the only online service worth considering any more, it looks like America Online is finally solving the most nagging technical problems that have plagued the service in the past. Then again, it's only a matter of time before AOL does something to wreck their image once again.
Copyright 1998 Mecklermedia Corporation.
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Editor: Jack Rickard - Volume XI: Issue 7 - ISSN:1054-2760 - July 1998
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