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To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9523)	12/7/2000 4:58:06 PM
From: justone	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

Mike: You are right- this is incredible! Washington 12/4/00-- In statements likely to disappoint investors, EchoStar communications Corp. said it may not be technically equipped to compete with cable's two-way broadband Internet-access service. EchoStar, the No. 2 direct-broadcast satellite provider, said the introduction by DBS of two-way Internet access is probably no match for cable's high-speed Internet service bundled with digital-video and, in some cases, local phone service. In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission Dec. 1, EchoStar said one-way Internet access by DBS "simply cannot compete" against cable and its recently launched two-way service "is relatively cumbersome to consumers." I came to this conclusion some time ago. Long before HFC or DSL were available, my friends would get huffy and demand to know when they could get more bandwidth. "Why today" I said. "You just rent a T1 and a FrameRealy connection at $1000 per month." Well of course it turned out that they meant LOW COST high bandwidth. The other access types couldn't compete against dial up at $20 per month. I guess the situation is this: you can get satellite, fiber to the home, or T1 but it isn't cheap. Only HFC, by sharing the last mile, and offering integrated broadcast video, telephone, broadband data, and future (VOD, videoconferencing) services can deploy at the right cost point. I came to this conclusion, and invested in various 'pure' play cable companies- and they all crashed far beyond the other tech stocks. Apparently 1) there is no other alternative to HFC; 2) everyone wants residential broadband; but 3) HFC is no good (as a stock). This is the logic of wall street, who seem, like the dog chasing a car, to love to run and bark, but don't want to catch anything. My current strategy is to wait until Wall Street's car chasing dogs get tired chasing the current car, take a breath, and start to chase a new car- let's hope it is cable. But your Echo Star quote disturbs me. If it is true- and I think it is- the competition (satellite/DSL/ftth) may throw in the towel before the cable stocks recover. Then they will go to the FCC, demand 'open acess' on ATT's investment, and the cable stocks will crash again. I figure every 'open acess' comment to the FCC drops the cable stocks 5%. It seems there is a race- will DSL, FTTH, and Satellite fail due to cost before Cable succeeds in attracting respect from the market?

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (9523)	12/7/2000 10:06:13 PM
From: Stoctrash	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

<<What I found astounding, is EchoStar's admittance that the HFC pipe is the only feasible broadband two-way pipe into the home. It's almost written as if they " Mike....DISH people do well in court, they've gotten plenty of practice at this thing. They have a plan I'm sure and I think should be given access...why not? Digital cable around my area stinks and 1/2 the quality of DBS and 2x the price. Their edge is truly in the cable modem side, IMO.