Adam, The free hookup is pretty much standard everywhere. Continuing to
offer this deal is not really a sign of problems. IMO. This offer will
likely be in effect until DOCSIS cable modems are available widely some
time next year.
>>Here in the St. Louis area, Charter Communications/Earthlink is heavily
advertising their Pipeline cable modem service. It is my guess that they
are having problems. During the summer, they mailed out brochures offering
free hookup if you ordered before the end of August. Now here we are in
November, and they are still having to offer this to get new subscribers.
I don't know anyone personally that has signed up. <<
>>IMO, the main weakness with cable modems is that in about 85% of U.S.
homes (including mine), only one-way communication is available.<<
It could be that 85% of cable modems homes are 2-way not 15%. If it is 85%
one way then there's around 100 million one-way ready homes?? @Home is all
fully 2-way wired. This info's a bit stale but the qtr to qtr growth is
apparent.
"@Home's cable modem subscriber base has more than quadrupled since the
beginning of 1998. At September 30, 1998, @Home served more than 210,000
cable modem subscribers across North America, an increase of 43% from
147,000 subscribers reported at June 30, 1998. The base of homes with
access to two-way upgraded plant increased to 10 million at
September 30, 1998 from 7.9 million at June 30, 1998."
home.net
>> I have to have a dedicated phone line for uploads, in addition to a new
cable outlet, to get their service.<<
That is a pain. No monthly charges for the cable outlet?
>>Pipeline would cost 2-3x/month what I pay for MSN (depending on what
download speed I want and whether I rent or buy the cable modem)<<
I wasn't aware that there is any choice of speed. @Home has the top Megabit
speed available for all.
>> This would push my monthly payment to Charter to about $100/month
(Internet access plus regular cable), which I'm not willing to do.<<
That's grossly exorbitant! What are the breakdown costs for that? I'm
shocked by the costs you've mentioned. @Home is certainly a much better deal
than that.
>>To get my attention (and $), they need to be no more than about
$25-$30/month (25%-50% more than current ISPs), with no need for a
phone line.<<
Many would pay $40-$50/month if they are SOHO but, yeah for regular
users that sounds like a very attractive price. The extra phone line
is a killer too.
No wonder you don't know anyone that has signed up. It sounds like
they've got a ways to go yet. Have they announced plans to upgrade to 2-way?
stak |
