~ OT ~ FYI ...The Race to High-Speed Internet Heightens...
The Wall Street Journal today has an article on how AT&T's race to local phone service and high-speed delivery has now put pressure on ADSL rollout via AOL:
<<WSJ, May 7, 1999
Fast Phone LInes May Help AOL Trump Cable TV
by Thomas E. Weber and Stephanie N. Mehta
America Online Inc., shut out of the bidding for cable operator MediaOne Group Inc., is now courting the Baby Bell telephone companies in a gambit to establish a nationwide broadband network without cable.
The focus of the effort: digital-subscriber-line, or DSL, technology. Known as the "other" broadband system, DSL delivers high-speed Internet access over traditional copper telephone wires. Cable modems have attracted plenty of buzz for their abiliity to hook consumers up to the Web at speeds as great as 50 times standard modems. DSL, though saddled with a clumsy name, promises similar fast connections over reliable phone lines.
Each of the regional Bell telephone companies has been developing DSL for its own territory, but AOL wouold like to forge agreements with all of the Bells and GTE Corp.- and potentially unify those effors under the AOL brand.
"DSL is a fabulous technology" says Bob Pittman, president of AOL and a cable-television veteran. "And the consumer already thinks of the Internet as a telephone service". And given cable companies' poor service records, the phone may well trump the TV when it come to the Net.....>>
The game is getting hot and I'm going to continue to bet on AWRE in a BIG way.
Best Regards,
Scott |
