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 : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. Davies who wrote (17167)	11/19/1999 9:58:00 PM
From: ahhaha	Respond to of 29970

We've discussed this many times months ago. There are at least four firms building and have built such devices. They're no big deal. The wireless STB only makes internal setup somewhat easier. When I went out with the installers they encountered numerous problems, but nowhere did they have any problem with internal wiring. Just run the coax, split it, and screw on the modem. Truck still has to roll whoever supplies the wireless STB. Internal wiring in the standard way is rarely difficult or time consuming. Hey, you got the counter claim from a fool. Once you go outside wireless starts being effected by the elements. Short hauls should be ok, but you still need the local fiber to coax loop. It is cheaper to use what is already there. Att is cookin' on this install business, so I think that aspect will slowly diminish in significance.

To: E. Davies who wrote (17167)	11/19/1999 10:38:00 PM
From: Jay Lowe	Respond to of 29970

>> Think how much technician install/debugging time could be spared Adding wireless to the cablemodem does not really solve the install problem because you still have to interface the wireless to the PC somehow. There are two distinct cost items to an install: (1) wiring, modem install, provisioning, (2) connecting to the PC. Wireless does not do much for (1). Wireless does not do much for (2) ... because ... you still have to connect the wireless to the PC somehow. The real issue is "PC footprint". Most of the current install time is related to installing a PC LAN card ... which can be hairy since it interacts with other PC resources (I/O Addresses, IRQs) and requires that you crack the box. In the (2) category, the install curve is controlled by the number of pathways into the PC architecture. The available choices are: PCI/ISA bus card, USB, parallel ports. CableLabs decided to specify ethernet which everyone has construed to mean PCI/ISA NICs and, more recently, USB. My company has proposed parallel port cablemodems and/or parallel port ethernet dongles ... these are cool simply because they have zero PC footprint ... you can always connect in this way without affecting PC resource configuration ... and you don't have to crack the box. We got a lot of interest ... but no vendor could really wrap their head around it ... CableLabs/DOCSIS simply didn't want to listen ... and the communication between the MSO's, the vendors, and CableLabs was pretty chaotic. We have a parallel cablemodem running ... average PC install time = 5 minutes by a non-technical user. Fully PnP, no screwdrivers. We argue that parallel would have been the right way to from the beginning ... but since it so non-standard in the industry's conservative eye, we'll just have to get along with gradual increases in cable-ready PCs ... namely, PCs with LAN factory-installed LAN cards, USB, and in the future, Bluetooth or 802.11B or whatever. Adding wireless to the cablemodem is extremely useful in other ways, even though it doesn't help the install problem much. Wireless in the cablebox means your cellphone, multiple PCs, assorted internet appliances ... all can access the cable connection without wiring. That's extraordinarily powerful ... and a point of massive leverage for ATHM. If they play their cards right, they can be at the center of a very big transition in home computing. This wireless-cable connection is the biggest factor to affect this stock in the last year ... bigger than Excite. By the way, you will see parallel cablemodems making cable connection quick and simple ... just not from ATHM.