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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (11860)	1/21/1998 5:33:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

First MCI, now: Sprint will offer faster Web access Service to deliver data nearly twice as fast as 28.8-kilobit modems. The Kansas City Star Wed, Jan 21 1998 Sprint Internet Passport will offer higher speed on-line access, sometimes referred to as 56K, to the company's Internet customers in March. Sprint this week is expected to announce an agreement with 3Com Corp. to offer 56 kilobits-per-second Internet access within 60 days. The service initially will be offered in 30 cities around the country. The higher speed access allows customers with modems equipped to deliver data at 56,000 bits per second - twice the speed of the 28.8-kilobit modems in common use today - to get information from the Internet more quickly. With more graphics-heavy pages containing sound and even video on the World Wide Web, the speed at which computers connect to the Internet is becoming more important. Westwood-based Sprint hasn't determined which 30 cities will get 56K access initially, said Terry Parker, director of product management and development for Sprint Internet Services. Sprint will use 3Com's 56-kilobit, x2 technology. Some local Internet providers already offer 56-kilobit service, and most major Internet services are testing it. America Online has been offering 56-kilobit service in the Kansas City area since last year. Parker said Sprint has been testing 56-kilobit service for more than a year, but delayed offering higher speed access because the industry hadn't set a standard for the service. Two companies - 3Com and Rockwell Semiconductor Systems - offer computer chips to drive 56K service. The chips are not compatible, and modems using one chip cannot communicate at higher speeds with modems using the other chip. That lack of compatibility means that if someone uses a modem based on the Rockwell chip, and the Internet provider uses modems based on the 3Com chip, that user won't be able to connect at the higher speed. However, the industry-regulating International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is expected to adopt a new standard for 56-kilobit service sometime this spring. Sprint said its service will be upgraded to meet that standard, and 3Com is planning to offer a software upgrade for the 56K modems it has sold. But even with a standard, 56-kilobit service is still not for everyone. Whether an Internet user actually can connect at the faster speed depends on the quality of the telephone line from the computer to the local telephone company. The New York Times reported Tuesday that three major technology companies - Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Compaq Computer - and all but one of the regional Bell companies have agreed to a standard to provide even higher speed access by Christmas. The service, called asymmetrical digital subscriber line, or ADSL, will allow users to connect at speeds up to 30 times faster than conventional Internet access. ADSL does not require a special telephone line. Parker said Sprint has been testing ADSL, and will offer the service when a standard has been established. (Copyright 1998) _____via IntellX_____ Copyright 1998, The Kansas City Star. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of The Kansas City Star content is expressly pr ohibited without the prior written consent of The Kansas City Star. The Kansas City Star shall not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. o~~~ O