Re: "US West charges you for DSL in addition to the charge for your voice line."
Most people already have one phone line. No need for a 2nd
According to the FAQ (http://www.uswest.com/com/customers/interprise/dsl/faq.html), with Useless Worst you are charged for the DSL and the first phone line: "The charges for MegaBit Services are in addition to the existing voice services the customer is paying."
Re: "This, plus the facts that the charge does not include an ISP and the service"
From winmag article: "PC access by cable will add about $40 to your monthly cable bill." DSL-Lite varies between $20 to $39 and ISP is $10/mo, so final total DSL bill is between $30 to $49/mo. With DSL, I'm removing my 2nd phone line (-$12)
What you're quoting from the winmag article is bogus, at least for the Phoenix area. Also, with a cable modem he could remove his second phone line (assuming the second line is for the computer) so he should list it as -$12 for both.
Cable:
phx.cox.com@home/pricing.html
For the 10 people nationwide that can get cable modem access, of which I'm not one of them, Cox charges $44.95 (incl modem rental) which includes the ISP. Speed would likely be in the 500kbps range, I'd guess. Cox quotes 1.5mbps-3mbps as a "typical" speed so I feel that I'm being very conservative.
DSL:
interprise.com
US West charges $40 for 256kbps plus $95 for the modem. After searching for a while and finding uswest.com it appears that you can get a $10 DSL ISP service. This is news to me. However, the standard "MegaPak" service that includes 256kbps and the ISP is $59.95/month.
uswest.com
Speed(kbps) : Monthly Fee : Setup Fee
256 : $40 + ISP : $110
512 : $65 + ISP : $110
768 : $80 + ISP : $110
1M/1M : $120 + ISP : $110
7M/1M : $840 + ISP : $110
MegaPak(256) : $60 : $400
As far as I'm concerned they can shove that $400 setup fee straight up their @$$. The Cox setup fee (including ISP) is normally $150, now $50. Of course, a discount may also apply to the $400 The Phone Company charges.
Re: "DSL....is a fraction of the speed of cable"
From winmag article is:
Cable operators sometimes quote speeds as high as 30Mbps, but you could only achieve this if you were the only user on a system [neighborhood loop]
In the real world, expect [cable] speeds in the neighborhood of 400Kbps to 1440Kbps.
If he wants to talk "real world" about speed then he should talk "real world" about price.
256kbps is a fraction of 400kbps to 1440kbps. It's even a fraction of my very conservative guess of 500kbps, at $5 more per month.
The DSL service promises speeds ranging from 64Kbps upstream all the way up to 7.1Mbps downstream.
Very dishonest mentioning 7.1Mbps in the same breath as a $45/month service. 7.1mbps-$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$840.
===============================
Bottom line:
Cable Modem: (conservatively) 500kbps at $45/month including ISP.
DSL: 256kbps at $50-$60/month including ISP.
To get the same speed as my conservative estimate, add $20. To get to two-thirds of the Cox-quoted "typical" speed, add $80. To get to the intellectually-dishonest mention of the top speed available through DSL, add $800. |
