To All,
I just talked with a person from Ameritech, who prefers to remain anonymous who told me that Ameritech is announcing today a contract with Alcatel to provide adsl dmt products and services.
The person has a leadership role in the Ameritech/IBM test in the Chicago area and came accross as very knowledgeable and open.
Ameritech wants there to be no confusion re. the rboc's conclusion that adsl dmt is the way to go and they are intent upon concentrating the bis. so that economies of scale can be brought to bear on costs.
Ameritech intends to be able to offer the capabilty to subscribers in the "foreseeable future", def. not years down the road. I interpret the comment to mean sometime in 1997.
When asked about the likelyhood that ISP's would be installing little black boxes to go around the telcos voice switches, the person indicated that they would be in the market soon enough to obviate such a need. They have looked at many ways to mitigate the demand on their system from people like us tying up the circuits and they believe that they can solve the prob. with adsl dmt faster and better than any of the options they have looked at.
When asked who would be supplying the modems, the response was Alcatel. I indicated that I had heard that Ascend and Alcatel had a deal on equipment and asked "do you know for sure that Alcatel was the source of the modems". The response left a little doubt about whether Alcatel was making their own modems.
I asked why USRX did not seem more agressive in producing xdsl modems. The response left the impression that it is likely that USRX will be making an announcement on the subject fairly soon.
More than likely, Ameritech will offer the entire package to the consumer and provide a list of suppliers of modems that will be compatible with their system should the subscriber prefer to purchase the modem independently.
Pricing is not complete, if fact, the issue is the subject of intense attention right now. I indicated that I heard that I had heard that the modems were likely to cost $3-500 and their was no response but tellingly, no dispute either. It is likely that there will be a significant connect charge and possibly a continuing line charge, above pots, if they are able to get it.
That about covers it for now.
The contact indicated that the press release was cleared for dissemination at 8:00 this am. I tried to find the Ameritech web site with my browser and did not strike gold. Perhaps someone has the url and can pull up the release.
I did check the Alcatel web site and did not find a release by ALA.
However I did come accross the white paper that they published re. dmt vs cap. I think it was posted by someone earlier. If you haven't seen it I recommend it. The address is:
alcatel.com
Hope Pat gets some good dope at the meeting.
All for now, gotta go, still don't have my cards out and all presents bought. This thread is going to be the death of me.
Did pick up a few more shares of amtx yest. And bght my first pair today. Prob. should get some ala, anybody have an opinion? |
