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: elmatador who wrote (9080)	11/6/2000 1:04:33 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Hello Elmat, What's this talk about ISDN and Communism? BTW, did you send this clip to me? : ------ Why is DSL hell? Everyone complains about it. Here's what service providers can do about it. cgi.zdnet.com By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, Sm@rt Partner October 23, 2000 URL: zdnet.com "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Since our first report that DSL can be hell (SP, "Escape From DSL Hell," Sept. 4 www.smartpartnermag.com/issues), there have been dozens of stories following our lead. Clearly, things haven't changed that much. "DSL doesn't have to be hellish. You can make it more of a pleasure than a torment. Be warned, however, it isn't easy. "Most DSL difficulties are installation problems caused by communication breakdowns between the three partners: the CLEC, the ISP and the ILEC. While CLECs and ISPs have strong incentives to work with each other, the ILEC often doesn't. In fact, the ILEC usually is competing with the CLEC for broadband and voice customers, while duking it out with the ISP for Internet customers. "We all know what happens when they don't work together: weeks of delays, coupled with slow and sloppy troubleshooting. What can you do about it? If you're a CLEC or an ISP, you should build a shared customer-relationship-management (CRM) program and use it religiously. Only by getting both CLEC and ISP customer support—from the first trouble report to on-site repair—on the same page, can you make customers happy. "Yes, that will require a lot of partnership trust and work (see SP, "Built to Last," Sept. 18, www.smartpartnermag.com/issues), but the opportunity to stand out from a slew of lowballing competitors should reward companies willing to make the investment. "Hellish Hardware The problems aren't all partnerships and jobs. There are purely technically ones, too. "First, you must make certain that everyone's equipment—from the asynchronous transfer mode link, to the phone company central office, to the Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer, to the local router—will work well with each other. Sounds basic, but we keep running into DSL installations where no one made sure that everything would work smoothly together. "We've also found that some problems are caused by firmware updates. When a vendor issues a software/firmware update, you've got to ensure that the upgrade doesn't cause more problems than it solves. "Some common DSL equipment has had so much trouble-report smoke that there must be a fire. Several technicians have told us that many of Netopia's R7100 seres tend to have early failures, while Efficient Networks' FlowPoint 2200s seem to work flawlessly. "The technical side, as you can tell, is relatively easy. The real work is building CRM systems and the partnerships needed to make them run right. But it's worth it. We saw the ISP-business market move from price being everything, to uptime and quality being the most important factors for customer satisfaction. There's no reason to believe it will be any different for DSL vendors."