To: pat mudge who wrote (28392 ) 11/6/1997 10:19:00 AM From: Chemsync Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 31386
[US West surprised by demand for DSL]bloomberg.com Denver, Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- U S West Communications Group said response to its new high-speed digital subscriber line Internet-access service in Phoenix exceeded its original projection by threefold in its first week of availability. The Baby Bell last week began offering a new package of services, designed for individual, company and institutional computer users. It lets them stay on the Internet 24 hours a day, and transmits data up to 25 times faster than with traditional modems that operate at 28.8 kilobytes per second. In its first week, 1,714 customers requested the service, U S West said. Some 30 businesses, government agencies and institutions requested the MegaBit Service access. Hundreds of locations will be hooked up to allow employees to work at home, U S West said. The company has hired a special installation team to handle the demand for the new services, said David Beigie, spokesman for Denver-based U S West Communications, the regulated phone service unit of U S West Inc. The digital subscriber line technology dedicates a portion of the standard copper telephone line to data transmission, without disrupting phone service over the same line. It enables the phone company to offer high-speed data transmission that previously has been available by replacing conventional copper wire networks with fiber optic cable. The price of the new services range from $40 a month, which provides occasional Internet users access at 192 kilobytes a second, to $125 a month for 704 kilobytes-a-second access, suitable for heavier-use business customers who need more bandwidth and video capability. The company plans to introduce the new services elsewhere in its 14-state region in the next year. --Jeanie Stokes in Denver (303) 267-0311 through the Princeton Newsroom, (609) 279-4000/esk