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.

Microcap & Penny Stocks : FRANKLIN TELECOM (FTEL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill France who wrote (23221)	12/15/1997 8:32:00 AM
From: Secret_Agent_Man	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41046

Qwest Communications offers Long Distance over internet:Get a load of this and pay particular attention to the last 3 paragraphs Qwest Plans to Offer Lowest Phone Rates By JOHN J. KELLER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Qwest Communications International Inc., breaking the 10-cent-a-minute long-distance pricing barrier, plans to offer calling for just 7.5 cents a minute around the clock. The ambitious Denver telecom start-up said it can offer the lower pricing because its high-capacity, fiber-optic network using Internet technology is more cost efficient than the aging networks of switches used by such rivals as AT&T Corp. and MCI Communications Corp. The bigger carriers have been trying to raise their prices -- currently between 10 cents and 30 cents a minute -- to fund their marketing and modernization. Qwest is building from scratch a modern multibillion-dollar system of fiber-optic lines and data-traffic routers. The system's software, tuned with so-called Internet protocols, allows Qwest to haul tremendous amounts of voice and data traffic in a manner compatible with other low-cost Internet providers. "None of the big carriers can offer our low rate around the clock without hurting their margins," said Joseph Nacchio, Qwest's chief executive officer, who once ran AT&T's consumer long-distance business. "I'm thinking of calling our standard plan the true one-rate plan for everybody including people who are not your friends and family," he said, poking fun at the discount offers of his rivals. But a customer must work a bit harder for the Qwest discount. Qwest, which plans to announce its long-distance offer to consumers and small businesses Monday, will use Internet-like transmission to carry the calls. The caller dials a local phone number and punches in a short authorization code before dialing the number to be called. The call is then directed to Qwest's network. Mr. Nacchio said the new service will be offered in a "controlled introduction" to consumers and small businesses beginning Feb. 1; to 25 cities by midsummer, and to 125 cities by early 1999 when Qwest expects to complete network construction. Internet telephony is still in its infancy. A number of the big telecom-service companies are studying offering telephone service via the Internet, including AT&T. But the technology is still being perfected. Today callers must contend with scratchy-sounding sound quality and "latency" in which the transmission of conversations is so sluggish, callers often trip over one another's words. This latter problem stems mostly from the circuitous path Internet traffic must take. Computer messages and voice calls are electronically placed in data "packets" that are then transmitted through many way stations of public phone-company switches and private corporate networks. Handy local electronic traffic cops, called routers, then direct the packets to their proper destination. By contrast, the phone network sets up an immediate continuous link between callers that is only broken when one person hangs up or there is a catastrophic system failure. Still, "we are seeing breakthroughs in Internet-telephony technology every couple of months," said Brian Adamik, an analyst at Boston researcher Yankee Group. "Consumers may soon find they can no longer tell whether their call is going over the Internet." Mr. Nacchio said Qwest can avoid Internet speed bumps by bypassing much of the slower public switched network. Qwest is testing new special software developed with its router supplier, Cisco Systems Inc. Another supplier, Vienna Systems Inc., a unit of Newbridge Networks Inc., is supplying software for improving phone-call quality over the Internet. Qwest and its suppliers are using its large transmission capacity and software to erase calling delays. "This is the future of networking," said Mr. Nacchio, adding that the Internet today carries faxes at far lower cost than the regular phone network. "All traffic will move over IP networks someday." When that day comes, callers won't need to use the extra codes since it will all be one system, he added. bg