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

To: lml who wrote (7790)	7/27/2000 6:48:38 PM
From: lml	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

FCC to hold hearings on open access. See dailynews.yahoo.com Issue If in-fact the MSOs offer open access over their cable pipes, how will this impact the dynamics of bandwidth performance on the cable platform? Can the network be designed so as to permit the arbitrage of bandwidth among the various ISP bandwidth allocations, or will the pipe be virtually segmented so that each ISP can be assured of a constant aggregated shared bandwidth to be used solely by its own subscribers? `There are no limitations on the number of ISPs or whether the ISPs (that can access the cable pipeline) are national, regional or local,'' Levin said,inviting any interested ISPs to e-mail him.' Levin's comments implies that the shared bandwidth in the coax branches that run in the neighborhood streets will be arbitraged among the various ISPs. If not, then I would think there would have to be a limit to the number of ISPs that could operate off a particular node. If there is in-fact an arbitrage of bandwidth, would that not still impact the performance to anyone particular subscriber, more so than if there were a single access provider? I figure that since the bandwidth apportioned to the several IP gateways is going to be constantly in flux, requiring the continual reallocation of bandwidth among gateways as demand along each constantly changes there are going to be inevitable delays or lags in the flow of packets. Any help from the technical guys here would be appreciated. TIA.

To: lml who wrote (7790)	7/29/2000 3:13:13 AM
From: DukeCrow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

we still are not clear exactly whether the sub simply receives the additional channels over the newly available digital bandwidths & continues to receive previously provided channels via analog transmission, or whether ALL his programming is not delivered digitally. I've had experience with Adelphia and Time Warner. In both cases, the digital programming was a separate tier of service which added additional channels to your existing tier; the additional channels were the only ones which were digital. I do not know if this is the way it is done everywhere, though. As far as picture quality is concerned, the limited amount of digital cable I have viewed was nothing very impressive. I think the MSO's use digital broadcast more as a way to squeeze more channels into their existing bandwidth than deliver superior picture quality. Ali

To: lml who wrote (7790)	7/29/2000 5:28:32 PM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

lml- Thanks for the article. "Presently, I am of the opinion that w/o a fiber upgrade to the plant, the improvement in digital quality is not going to comparable to what DBS offers." An upgraded MSO HFC plant delivers the same digital content as a DBS player. And no MSO offers digital services without an upgrade to HFC already completed. So once available, they should be equal. This of course, assuming there are no glitches in the distribution network of the MSO. And if quality was less on your analog system vs a digital, are you sure you were watching digital stations? You may have been comparing analog to analog, of which plant condition causes substantial differences in quality. If you have an analog channel, and you were looking at the exact same channel on the neighbor's set, then chances are, his was not digital either. "Also, when an MSO rolls out digital services, we still are not clear exactly whether the sub simply receives the additional channels over the newly available digital bandwidths & continues to receive previously provided channels via analog transmission, or whether ALL his programming is not delivered digitally. If the latter, than the MSO is transmitting the lion's share of its channel line-up both digitally, as well as via analog, which IMHO seems unlikely as its gotta suck up a lot of bandwidth in the coax in the streets." A typical, upgraded digital MSO offers this for $40/month: 70 Analog channels 22 Digital channels 26 Digital premium movie channels(package includes choice of 6) 38 PPV digital channels 41 Digital music channels "So my question is . . does digital transmission alone guarantee a near perfect digital quality picture. My guess is NO, as I contrast digital cable to what the DirecTV picture quality I witnessed at the Fox SkyBox restaurant this year prior to attending a few Laker games. Quality of picture: unbelievably perfect." Were you comparing picture quality on apples to apples TV monitors? Maybe the SkyBox TV is a higher resolution digital TV monitor. Not necessarily HDTV quality, but a step above our current analog sets. Their is something in between, and I believe this is what has been sold today to the tune of around 50,000 sets. So it's not true HDTV quality, but it's still a digital TV. Kind of confusing I know. And that is one reason they are having so much trouble selling the things! "But I think the article is correct in pointing out how the MSOs have the advantage over DBS providers by providing broadband access in the mix. The question is how long is it going to be before the DirecTV & Dish folks offer 2-way access, and how good is it going to be." Yes. I agree totally. MSO have a huge advantage with two-way data services and don't forget telephony. I'm having my doubts about two-way Satellite service being for real. And there is zero PR on the DBS players doing telephony. That is why I thought the BellSouth plan was pretty interesting since, obviously that can offer voice as part of the package and even DSL to some. But I'm still doubting how successful they can be due to that 18" dish being bolted on. That would seem to me, to be a deterrent to a lot of suburb type customers. -MikeM(From Florida)