Here's the actual SBC DSL Press Release referenced by the fool in my previous post. It's long and descriptive. California cities included in the ADSL rollout plans are listed at the end of this post.
I suspect that now that USWest and SBC appear to be fully committed, we can expect the others to follow suit with the DSL bandwagon soon. Any comments on that?
Also, what do you think the impact will be [in your SWAGest quantifiable terms] on Cable Modem services as a result of this release?
Enjoy, Frank C.
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"Lightning-Fast ADSL Enables Californians to Make the Most of the Internet"
SBC Announces Largest Deployment of ADSL in the United States
SFO Jan. 12, 1999
The wait for affordable super-fast access to the Internet is over
for millions of California households and small businesses. Pacific
Bell announced today it is reducing prices on its popular high-speed
Internet access service and making it available to millions more of
its customers throughout the Golden State.
In a related announcement today, Pacific Bell's parent company,
SBC Communications, Inc. (SBC), announced plans for the largest
rollout of Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) service in the
country. By the end of 1999, SBC intends to provide ADSL service from 526 central offices to 8.2 million residential and 1.3 million business customers. In California, Pacific Bell will almost triple its current deployment of ADSL, providing service in central offices that serve 70 percent of its customers by the end of the year.
Pacific Bell plans to offer "always on" ADSL service with guaranteed minimum connection speeds -- which enables users to connect to the Internet at speeds up to 200 times faster than today's conventional 28.8 Kpbs modems -- for as low as $39 a month.
In addition, Pacific Bell and Pacific Bell Internet Services will offer ADSL service and Internet access packages for as little as $49 per month.
ADSL equipment and installation will be available for as little as $198.
These new, attractive price points represent a decrease of 45 percent for ADSL service and Internet access, and 34 percent for ADSL installation and equipment.
See attachment for specific pricing details.
By reducing its cost and boosting deployment, Pacific Bell is making high-speed Internet access a viable option today for millions of households and small businesses who are looking for greater bandwidth to make the most of the Internet or to connect to the office
network from home. Pacific Bell will invest more than $100 million in 1999 to upgrade its ADSL technology and equip 255 central offices with the service. Pacific Bell estimates that as many as 5 million residential and 900,000 business customers will qualify for ADSL service from the 255 central offices.
"Got bandwidth?
For the vast majority of Americans, the answer is still no," said Ed Mueller, president and CEO of Pacific Bell. "Fortunately for Californians, Pacific Bell is answering the Golden State's 'need for speed' by undertaking the country's largest single-state deployment of ADSL service and making it substantially more affordable. Now, Californians can surf the web and connect to the office at quicksilver speeds for less than the cost of taking a family of four to the movies."
"We are confident ADSL service from Pacific Bell will become the high-speed Internet access of choice for California. We're putting ADSL within reach of millions more Californians so that customers will get great value, superior service, all the speed they need and transport provided over the highly-reliable Pacific Bell network," added Mueller.
With the $39 per month ADSL service, Pacific Bell's customers can simultaneously use a phone or fax machine while getting downstream connection speeds up to 1.5 Mbps and an upstream connection speed of 128 Kbps -- 50 times faster than today's most common 28.8 analog modems.
Downstream through-put speeds will vary depending on the customer's distance from the central office and other factors, but the connection speed will be at a guaranteed minimum of 384 Kbps. Pacific Bell estimates 75 percent of its customers qualifying for ADSL will get downstream connection speeds of 1.5 Mbps.
For customers demanding higher speeds, Pacific Bell and Pacific Bell Internet Services will offer a package with downstream connection speeds of up to 6 Mbps, and an upstream connection speed of 384 Kbps.
Downstream connection speeds will be guaranteed at a minimum of 1.5 Mbps.
In addition to downloading data, graphics, audio and video, ADSL's speed transforms e-commerce transactions by creating faster responses for on-line traders and buyers, faster information exchanges between business partners and faster on-line sales. And the e-commerce explosion is just beginning. In fact, Deloitte & Touche predicts a four-fold increase in e-commerce during the next two years.
ADSL: A Better Broadband Solution
With today's announcement, more than half of Pacific Bell's customers will be able to subscribe to lightning-fast ADSL service by the end of the year. This is crucial because industry insiders estimate 35 percent of the nation's Internet traffic begins and ends in California. Add that to the fact more than 3.7 million Pacific Bell households are anticipated to be online by the year 2000, and you have the start of a "big" bandwidth revolution, explained Mueller.
When compared to cable modems, ADSL ensures greater reliability, better security and more consistent speeds, experts say, because the service is delivered via a dedicated line from a central office to the individual user's home or office. In addition, Pacific Bell's ADSL runs on the Pacific Bell network, one of the most reliable in the world. And customers choosing Pacific Bell Internet Services, surf on one of the country's most sophisticated Internet backbones and benefit from award-winning service and support.
Because cable modems depend on shared bandwidth among a group of users, accessing the Internet via cable modem is a "floating crap game," said Amy Wohl, Wohl Associates, a market research company. "If you're using it for telecommuting, there would be some places where not too many people are home during the day and you'd be fine. And there would be other places where you're sharing it with three elementary schools and 42 other telecommuters, and it will be terrible."
For example, Andrew Abbate, a computer consultant with a Bay Area start-up company, has his home hooked to Pacific Bell's ADSL. When telecommuting, Abbate values the service's security so he can conduct on-line banking and download massive audio and video files. In recent months, Abbate also used ADSL to design an interactive Web site and build a virtual private network.
"ADSL has changed the way I work and communicate via the Internet," said Abbate. "Thanks to Pacific Bell's ADSL, the World Wide Web is no longer the World Wide Wait."
Pacific Bell believes the demand for ADSL will soar now that the service is widely available and affordable. In fact, DataQuest, a market research company, predicts the number of ADSL subscribers could zoom from 50,000 now to 5 million worldwide by 2002.
ADSL Update
SBC also announced plans today to offer ADSL service to millions of its customers in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas by the end of 1999, and will begin ADSL trials in Connecticut later this month.
The company has also completed joint initiatives with Dell Computer Corp. and Compaq Computer to promote more convenient access to ADSL.
"We are moving aggressively to provide the advanced high-speed data services customers throughout our territory are demanding," said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., SBC chairman and CEO. "We are committed to ADSL technology and to building the multi-media corridor to homes and businesses that will enable people to change the way that they work, learn, shop and play."
Whitacre said that SBC is filing tariffs today with the Federal Communications Commission for regulatory clearance to offer ADSL to customers in all five Southwestern states.
Pacific Bell launched ADSL service in May 1998. By Sept. 1998, the company had completed ADSL deployment in about 90 California central offices, making the service available to more than 1.6 million residential customers and 400,000 business customers throughout the Golden State.
"One reason Pacific Bell is deploying this technology so rapidly in California is the favorable regulatory environment established by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)," said Jim Callaway, President, External Affairs Pacific Telesis. "The CPUC has instituted fair guidelines which make it attractive for us to make the major capital investments necessary to bring this important technology to millions of the residents of this state."
Committed to making bandwidth widely available, Pacific Bell is making it easy for Californians to get ADSL service. For example, the company has signed agreements with more than 22 ISPs -- which act as authorized sales representatives for Pacific Bell's ADSL service and offer the service to their business and residential customers. In addition, Pacific Bell will continue making ADSL service available to competitors and Internet service providers for resale at the new prices.
For more information on Pacific Bell ADSL and to order the service, California residents can call 1-888-884-2DSL or visit the Pacific Bell Web site at www.pacbell.com/products/business/fastrak/adsl/
Pacific Bell is a company of SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com), a global leader in the telecommunications industry, with more than 36.9 million access lines and 6.5 million wireless customers across the United States, as well as investments in telecommunications businesses in 11 countries. Under the Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, SNET, Nevada Bell and Cellular One brands, SBC, through its subsidiaries, offers a wide range of innovative services.
SBC offers local and long-distance telephone service, wireless communications, data communications, paging, Internet access, and messaging, as well as telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and publishing. SBC has approximately 129,000 employees and its annual revenues rank it in the top 50 among Fortune 500 companies.
Pacific Bell Adsl Pricing Sheet
Downstream connection rates of up to 1.5 Mbps,
guaranteed at 384 Kbps, 128 Kbps upstream
Monthly Month-
Service Customer ADSL to-
(1- Year or Premise Equipment Service Month
Longer Term) Equipment Installation Installation Service
Pacific Bell
ADSL(2)
Transport $39 $198 Waived(1) Waived(1) $59
Internet
Access(3) $10 $21.95
Downstream connection rates of up to 6 Mbps,
guaranteed at 1.5 Mbps, 384 Kbps upstream
Monthly Month-
Service Customer ADSL to-
(1- Year or Premise Equipment Service Month
Longer Term) Equipment Installation Installation Service
Pacific Bell
ADSL(2)
Transport $129 $198 Waived(1) Waived(1) $149
Multi User
(up to 256
accounts)
Internet
Access(3) $199 $299
-- Equipment and service installation charge waived for customers who
sign up for one-year term or longer
-- Month-to-Month, 1-Year and 3-Year terms are available for ADSL
service
-- Discounts are available for retail customers who purchase more
than 50 ADSL lines
-- A basic telephone line, either business or residential, is
required for ADSL service
1. With term commitment. One-time charges of $497 apply for Customer
Premise Equipment and installation for those customers who choose
month-to-month service.
2. All components of the product are available separately.
3. Internet Access provided by Pacific Bell Internet Services
includes a Global Service Provider charge.
Pacific Bell
ADSL Central Offices
1999 Deployment
The following central offices will be deployed
throughout 1999 in California.
Agoura El Dorado Monterey San Gabriel
Alameda El Monte Moraga San Jose(8)
Albany El Toro Msvl Franklin San Juan
Alhambra Encinitas Mountain View San Luis Obispo
Anaheim (2) Escondido Napa San Marcos
Antioch Eureka Main National City San Mateo
Aptos Fair Oaks Nevada City San Pedro
Arcadia Fairfield Newhall San Rafael
Arlington Fallbrook Nimbus San Ramon
Arroyo Grande Fremont(2) Hollywood(2) Santa Ana(3)
Auburn Mn. Fresno(3) Sacramento Santa Clara(2)
Bakersfield (3) Fullerton Northridge Santa Cruz(2)
Balboa Garden Grove Oakland(4) Santa Marguerita
Benicia Gardena Oceanside Santa Rosa(3)
Berkeley Glendale Orange(3) Sausalito
Beverly Hills Grass Valley Orinda Scotts Valley
Bishop Ranch Half Moon Bay Oroville Sebastopol
Blue Revine Hawthorne Pacific Beach Sherman Oaks
Boulder Creek Hayward(2) Pacifica Shingle Springs
Brea Hercules Palmdale Simi
Brentwood Hesperian Palo Alto(2) So. Tahoe Sussex
Buena Park Hollywood Paramount Solamint
Burbank Ignacio Park Sorrento Sonoma
Burlingame Irvine(2) Pasadena(2) Stockton(2)
Canoga Park La Brea Petaluma Sunnyvale(2)
Carlsbad (2) La Crescenta Pittsburg Tiburon
Carmel La Jolla Placentia Torrance
Chico La Mesa Placerville Tracy
Chula Vista (2) Lafayette Pleasanton(2) Truckee
Clayton Laguna Nigel Poway Midland Turlock
Clovis Larkspur Rancho(3) Tustin
Colma Livermore Redding Ukiah
Compton Lodi Redwood City Union City
Concord Lomita Reseda Vacaville
Corona Los Altos Richmond Vallejo
Corona Del Mar Los Angeles(16) Riverside Van Nuys
Costa Mesa Martinez Rosemead Ventura(2)
Cotati Menlo Park S. Placer Rocklin Visalia
Culver City Merced Sacramento(5) Vista
Danville (2) Mill Valley San Bruno Walnut Creek
Davis Millbrae San Carlos Watsonville
Del Mar Milpitas Abel San Clemente West Los Angeles
Douglas Mission San Diego(10) Woodland
Edgewood Mission Viejo San Francisco(9) Yorba Linda
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