Demand is "overwhelming." Even the best thoroughbreds trip a little at first. I love it!!!
@Home rollouts delayed in California
By Corey Grice
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 1, 1999, 4:30 p.m. PT
URL: news.com
AT&T's TCI cable unit says it cannot keep up with the demand for the @Home Network, forcing prospective customers in the
San Francisco Bay Area to wait even after being told the service was coming soon.
About two months ago, @Home's leading cable partner, the former Tele-Communications Incorporated, sent a postcard to
interested customers in Foster City, California, and Hillsborough, California, indicating the high-speed Internet-over-cable
service would soon be available.
But those people, whose high-speed appetites were whetted by that first mailing, are now receiving a second letter from the
cable operator that says the service isn't ready.
"Although we are working as diligently as possible to bring this exciting new product to your neighborhood, we have
encountered some unforeseen construction delays in launching the service in your area," the TCI letter reads.
The admission hints at a larger burden TCI is saddled with, namely an aging technology infrastructure that is being pinched by
ever-increasing interactive services.
TCI is now AT&T's new Broadband & Internet Services division, following their recently completed merger. AT&T has said it
will invest heavily to upgrade TCI's cable networks.
There are a number of reasons for the delays. A TCI spokesman said the slow process of stringing cable on city-controlled
telephone poles has contributed to some "construction delays." As well, strong demand for the "always on" Net access service
has pushed the company to postpone the rollout of service in Foster City and Hillsborough, until a backlog of orders in other
cities is filled.
"We've experienced a tremendous demand and frankly our demand is so great that our backlog is averaging about seven to
eight weeks in other communities," said Andrew Johnson, a spokesman for TCI of California.
An @Home spokesman declined to comment.
Johnson said the demand for the @Home service, spurred in part by word of mouth and recent demonstrations in shopping
malls, has been particularly strong in the south San Francisco Bay Area city of Milpitas. TCI intends to keep its limited number
of installers working in the Milpitas area until the order backlog is under control, he said.
"We're going to keep the resources focused on the South Bay communities to get that backlog down to something more
reasonable," he said.
Although the delays are a result of overwhelming demand, one thing is clear: strong demand for the service is good for both
@Home and AT&T, but only if future customers are not soured by long waits or other installation delays.
@Home recently released a new version of its software that its says will make the installation process easier, and eventually
allow users to install the service themselves. But until standards-based cable modems are widely available in retail stores, cable
installers will still be needed.
TCI has about 200 @Home installers in the San Francisco area, Johnson said, and is looking to hire about 800 new customer
service representatives and cable modem installers in the area this year.
@Home's cable modem service uses the same coaxial cable network used to deliver cable television programs for its
high-speed Internet access. Users can download information, without dialing in over a phone line to an Internet service
provider, at speeds of between 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second) and 3 Mbps for about $40 per month.
The service is currently available in 40 San Francisco area communities from as far south as Milpitas, to Petaluma to the north,
and in the East bay in Livermore and Pleasanton.
@Home finished 1998 with 331,000 subscribers, and most analysts have plans for the company to top 1 million customers and
turn its first quarterly profit this year.
Cable modem services such as @Home are also facing competition from digital subscriber lines, an alternate broadband access
technology that uses standard copper phone wires to deliver data at comparable high speeds. Many phone companies are
pushing DSL, and as rollouts continue, the technology may steal customers still waiting for cable modem services.
So far, however, cable modem services have the early lead over DSL, and some analysts say phone companies are facing a
lack of qualified installation technicians. Officials at Pacific Bell have admitted that, like @Home, demand for higher speed Net
connections is so intense that the Baby Bell is having trouble keeping up.
"Unfortunately these aren't the kind of skills that are coming off the shelf out of the community colleges," said TCI's Johnson.
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