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Non-Tech : Bill Wexler's Dog Pound -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Y2k_fan who wrote (7638)	12/28/2000 11:18:27 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 10293

Interesting. In Austria, state monopoly Telekom offers cheap flat rate ADSL connections over their proprietary telephone lines....and those are as fast as what is sold as "cable" by UPC...

To: Y2k_fan who wrote (7638)	12/29/2000 5:00:07 AM
From: Bruce Fortnam	Respond to of 10293

>>When you bring a portable PC on a business trip. It can not be used with a DSL modem. You can use a portable PC with a DSL modem - all you need is a network card.

To: Y2k_fan who wrote (7638)	12/29/2000 5:06:34 PM
From: Fundamentls	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10293

When you bring a portable PC on a business trip. It can not be used with a DSL modem. Not exactly true. Most of the hotels that have installed high-speed internet are doing it using a variation of DSL technology. It lets them use the copper wire to the room (even if there's only one pair), and saves having to run CAT 5 wire -- very expensive except in new construction. You don't bring your DSL modem, just your Ethernet card. I've used it, it works. Most of the major hotel companies have selected vendors and are installing it now, with major deployments scheduled for 2001. Expect it to be widespread within 12-24 months. Hotel market is pretty big, about 3 million rooms in the US alone, with maybe 50% penetration in 2-3 years. Those numbers aren't shabby vs. today's residential/small business DSL market - not the same potential, but faster buildout. Not sure if COVD supplies anything to this market, certainly some of the equipment is common with what they do, but you don't have the same setup at the central office, as it runs on a T1 out of the hotel. CAIS, STSN, Wayport, and a few others seem to be the leaders in the segment. Not sure any will survive, the shakeout there has been as bad as in DSL. Might be some good acquisition opportunities for someone like COVD if they can find a white knight to fund it. Fund

To: Y2k_fan who wrote (7638)	12/30/2000 3:37:09 AM
From: BelowTheCrowd	Respond to of 10293

> A new line still needs to be installed. Not sure why you say that. When I got DSL, I kept my existing line, my existing phone number, and pretty much everything else. A filter had to be installed so that the high-frequency DSL signal would only get to my computer, not to the telephone itself. As to dialing up, when I'm at home, I am connected through DSL. When I'm on the road, I still need to dial up. The ISP that is providing my DSL service (Earthlink) also has dialups all over the country and in much of the world. That's one of the reasons I went with an independent, not with my local telco. The local telco only has dialup numbers in the state and that's not sufficient for me. (I THINK Earthlink uses COVD as their CLEC, but I'm not absolutely certain.) Your idea of wiring the entire country with CAT5 cables and switches in every neighborhood just isn't going to fly. The cost of stringing all that wire is staggering, and it is completely unnecessary when you consider that most houses have two useful data pipes already available: cable that telephone. To me, the question is which of the two pipes becomes most viable most quickly. Right now the cable companies seem to be doing a better job, but not by much. The AOL/TWX deal will probably end up increasing availability of cable broadband around the country. Among the telephone companies, only SBC seems to have a real clue and they are also the only one that works even remotely well with CLECs. COVD is too speculative for me at this point.