Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (5260)	9/17/1999 10:12:00 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Respond to of 12823

Yes Mike - US West is moving very rapidly in deploying DSL in King County, Washington (Seattle) - much faster than GTE in Snohomish County to the north of Seattle. The major reason is that ATT/TCI has upgraded most of King County with two way cable whereas Snohomish County has very little two way cable. Although US West is ahead of the other carriers in deploying DSL, it is my impression they have more non capable lines than other carriers. SBC has announced its intent to compete as a CLEC in this area.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (5260)	9/17/1999 10:19:00 AM
From: Regis McConnell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Has anyone heard of, "On Demand DSL," before? Mike, I believe that they are referring to DSL-Lite, & the fact that the connection is not 'always on', but requires dialup. I know that in some parts of the Denver metro area U.S. 'Worst' dsl services are advertised as being available for $30 per month. Regis

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (5260)	9/17/1999 10:45:00 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Hi Mike, You said: Has anyone heard of, "On Demand DSL," before? It's a new one for me. I don't quite understand it because in the text of the press release it says to simply launch their browser to get online. What Qworst has been able to do is figure out a way to break the legs of xDSL which in past configurations was a dedicated line that was always "on", much like the cable modems are always online. They have melded the concept of dial-up (think analog modems) to DSL in order to free up capacity on the network. The reasoning is that not all DSL customers need 24/7 instant access, and that pricing can be made more attractive if numerous DSL customers can be multiplexed onto smaller backhaul links to the backbone. HTH, Ray

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (5260)	9/17/1999 12:58:00 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 12823

This DSL twist is also how USWEST bars business users to jump into DSL and stop using expensive leased lines.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (5260)	9/18/1999 11:38:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

I imagine with this, "on demand" service, the computer must not only launch, but establish a connection too. yes. According to the US West web page, the service works only with the Cisco 605 internal router. Comments in an internal uswest.net newsgroup indicate that it connects either with Cisco's Commander software or with some kind of funky kludge to Microsoft's Dial-Up Networking. This service apparently doesn't work with the 675 external model that can be used with the standard (now "deluxe") always-on service. US West puts a two-hour usage limit on its Select customers, but allows them to attempt to make an immediate reconnection. I don't know what the process is on the DSLAM, but a letter sent by US West to existing DSL customers encouraging us to switch indicates that each port is oversubscribed. They point out that reconnection is not guaranteed. (I have an external Cisco 675 that takes about 30-50 seconds to train when it's rebooted. Select users probably face the similar time issues when reconnecting, although there might be additional verification involved.) Select service has been available in Seattle since early "summer" (a term as meaningful for our area as "MegaBit" is for USW's 256kbps service). A few folks who've tried to get the standard service have complained that US West tells them that the ports for that service are sold out, but that the oversubscribed "Select" ports are available. The internal uswest.dsl newsgroup doesn't get many posts from folks using this service. That might indicate that they don't have many complaints or problems. Or maybe there aren't enough yet to get the complaints rolling. As some here have noted, there are plenty of complaints about uswest.net service, but few of those complaints concern the DSL line itself. Even on the public comp.dcom.xdsl newsgroup, few folks complain about outages or slow connections through uswest. Side note: Because of limitations in Cisco's DSLAM, users of the 256/256kbps service have enjoyed speeds of 640kbps down/256 up. New Cisco software now allows USW to throttle the line down to 256, but they've said they will do that only for new users and will leave existing users at 640 for now.