Newly OK'd version not as fast but easier to install
San Jose Mercury News - Published Wednesday, June 23, 1999
DSL 'lite' would plug in more high-speed consumers
High-speed Internet access should become a little more affordable for consumers,
thanks to a new standard adopted Tuesday by the telecommunications industry.
The standard, which sets the rules for a new class of high-speed data lines, also
promises to let computer users install the service themselves and could bring more
competition to the consumer market. But two data-communications upstarts say the real
way to cut costs is to let them offer high-speed Internet service over the phone lines
already used in customers' homes -- something Pacific Bell and the other local phone
companies aren't willing to do.
That battle is still being fought out at the Federal Communications Commission, with a
decision expected later this year.
The burgeoning popularity of the Internet has prompted both phone and cable TV
companies to launch services that speed downloads and reduce the delays associated
with the Web. The services cost at least $40 to $60 per month, with some phone
companies charging significantly more for higher speeds.
The phone companies' service is based on a technology called digital subscriber line,
which allows people to make phone calls while browsing the Web at high speed on the
same line. The new International Telecommunications Union standard -- which was
pushed by major computer, phone and networking companies -- creates a ''lite'' version
of the technology that's not as fast but much easier to install.
By the end of the year, equipment manufacturers like 3Com Corp. of
Santa Clara are expected to have modems in stores that users could
install themselves, rather than waiting for a phone company technician.
The result, industry officials say, should be less-expensive modems
and lower installation charges.
Pacific Bell already is offering free installation, but customers still have to buy a modem
from the company for $198. After Pac Bell rolls out the ''lite'' service -- due this fall,
company officials said -- users could save money by buying their modem from a
computer store or having it built into a new PC. Compaq, for example, already offers the
latter option for $99.
The ''lite'' version of digital subscriber line service allows users to receive information
from the Internet at up to 1.5 million bits per second, or about 30 times the speed of the
fastest dial-up modem, and send it at up to 512,000 bits per second. That's about the
same as Pac Bell's basic high-speed Internet service, which it sells for $49 per month.
The top speeds depend on how far the user is from the phone company's switching
office. One of the biggest problems for the service is that it doesn't work on long phone
lines, and the new standard won't change that, officials said -- the reach will still be
limited to about 3 1/3 miles.
Nor will it overcome problems with the wiring inside customers' homes and businesses,
a condition that prompts Pac Bell to install new wiring for about 75 percent of its
high-speed customers, said Mike McLeland, vice president of business service
operations.
Still, Pac Bell expects that many users will be able to set up the ''lite'' service
themselves. And over time, the reductions in installation and equipment costs will help
Pac Bell cut the monthly price of its service, said Steve Dimmitt, vice president of
consumer markets.
Pac Bell's competitors have a different wiring problem. Because Pac Bell won't allow
them to use its customers' phone lines for high-speed data service, they have to run new
wiring to virtually every customer. They also pay much more for the lines than Pac Bell
does.
NorthPoint Communications of San Francisco, a company that specializes in high-speed
data lines for businesses, has been testing the ''lite'' technology for about a month in
Santa Clara, said chief executive Michael Malaga. His company wants to start offering
services to consumers, too, but the main deterrent is the amount it has to pay Pac Bell for
the lines.
Another Pac Bell competitor, Covad Communications of San Jose, recently launched a
more affordable service aimed at consumers, but its top speed is well below Pac Bell's.
Dan Estabrook, a senior product manager at Covad, said he sees the ''lite'' service
bringing high-speed lines to the mass market -- particularly if competitors can share the
lines used for local phone service.
John Britton, a spokesman for Pac Bell, said his company opposes such line-sharing
because it could endanger the quality of its customers' phone service.
Today, companies like NorthPoint and Covad pay Pac Bell up to $22 per month for a
line and must build that cost into the price they charge customers. Pac Bell, on the other
hand, adds the high-speed service on top of a customer's existing phone line, for which
it charges $11.25 per month.
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