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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bill c. who wrote (8579)	7/13/1999 6:44:00 PM
From: Mark Palmberg	Respond to of 21876

And who is Mike McConnell, you ask? The problem lies in the fact that the technology, capable of sending voice traffic across a data network, is still seen as new and untested, said Infonetics analyst Mike McConnell. Another "analyst." This poor bastard is going to cost someone a lot of money. I wonder if this guy has any real grasp of what's happened to the Internet over the last four years. Writing's on the wall, Mike. Get on the bus. Mark

To: bill c. who wrote (8579)	7/13/1999 6:44:00 PM
From: polarisnh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21876

bill c, I agree with Wylie's belief. But that is good in my opinion. It means that Lucent and Cisco are ahead of the game. While the booming integration in the WAN is occurring as we speak Lucent and Cisco are profiting in a significant way. As this progresses to LAN integration it will give them time to address the bandwidth, reliability, and QOS issues that will confront this traffic to the desktop. While I know that there are technologies out there that presently allow, this people are still playing a wait-and-see attitude due to reliability issues. As well as they should! Until these systems are a little more bullet-proof it behooves management to think in this manner. In a few years the corporate consumer will be more inclined to allow the convergence of voice, video, and data all of the way to the desktop because it won't be as career limiting for the IS department. Cheers, Steve

To: bill c. who wrote (8579)	7/20/1999 5:39:00 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21876

OLD WORLD NOT DEAD:US West struggles with demand for phone lines By Bloomberg News Special to CNET News.com July 19, 1999, 4:00 p.m. PT US West, which agreed yesterday to be acquired by Qwest Communications International, is having trouble keeping up with demand for new phone lines in Colorado. The Denver-based local phone service company told the state Public Utility Commission last week that orders for new phone lines soared to about 280,000 in March 1999 from about 175,000 in January 1997. About 40 percent of that growth came in areas where the company wasn't expecting it. In Colorado, for example, demand for additional residential phone lines is growing about 19 percent a year as more people work at home or access the Internet, US West executives told the commission. If the company isn't able to provide satisfactory service, it may be forced to refund $15 million annually in credits to customers. It wouldn't be the first time US West was penalized. It paid $5.3 million in penalties four years ago because of poor phone service. Analysts said improving US West's customer service it one of the tougher tasks facing Qwest chief executive Joseph Nacchio, who will run the combined company. The commission will decide July 23 whether to proceed with a formal investigation of US West service issues, said Terry Bote, a PUC spokesman. In 1994 and 1995, US West cited explosive growth for the service problems that prompted the $5.3 million penalty. That caused state regulators to set service-quality standards, which the company is having trouble meeting. Orders for basic service that can't be filled within 30 days rose to about 1,400 from less than 400. US West's 14-midwestern and western U.S. state service region includes some of the most rapidly growing states in terms of population. Many new customers are moving into remote areas of the Rocky Mountain region, and demanding services widely available in urban areas. The state commission said it handled 65 percent more calls for information or complaints about utilities during its fiscal year ended June 30 than in the prior year, and the bulk of those calls were about US West. US West ranked last among the seven regional Bell operating companies in terms of customer satisfaction, according to a 1998 J.D. Power and Associates survey. OLD WORLD NOT DEAD