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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob Zacks who wrote (1386)	2/19/1998 7:23:00 AM
From: Roger Bass	Respond to of 29970

Here's Nick's posting from the Yahoo thread: How do you see cable competing against adsl? Where are its strengths and weaknesses compared to adsl? Basically, an ADSL modem can do up to 1.5 Mbps in the downstream, and 640 K in the upstream (this is oversimplifying it of course). The actual data rate you get depends on how far away you are from the central office - the farther away you are, the lower the data rate. Also, there is the issue of loading coils and other things inside the twisted pair plant that connects from your house to the CO. That can actually kill ADSL signals, so in some areas, you will just not be able to take the service. Also, there is the question of how your ISP is connected to the DSL network. Most RBOC's are using a technology called ATM to connect from the DSL modem in the CO to the ISP's router. This network has to be configured and provisioned properly for the service to the ISP to work. I actually have a friend who has a DSL service here in the Bay Area, it took them about 3 weeks to make everything work right, and his performance while quick, still runs into about $349/month for the service at 1.5 Mbps to his home, and 384 back to the CO. Most of the costs that people quote for DSL do not include everything that's required make it work. So when you add it all up, it can be quite a bit. On the business point, the pricing seems to be designed to not cannibalize the their T-1 business, where they usually get several hundred dollars for a 1.5 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps upstream service (that doesn't include ISP fees of course). How viable will satellite be with Teligent and Teledisc coming online soon? On the teledisc folks, if you though DSL prices were high, just wait till you see theirs! They only have a limited amount of network capacity under one satellite, and that is shared by a lot of users. On the LMDS or wireless side, the fact is that to get lots of bandwidth, you have to move to a cell structure like cable has with HFC. That means that those cells (radio towers) will have to be interconnected by fiber facilities to deliver that high bandwidth outside the neighborhood, and that will be expensive. Cable companies have more fiber closer to more people than anyone else. Plus, the wireless guys all need line of site from antennas mounted on your house, which will prove tricky. The satellite guys know they are only niche providers. The real choice will be between cable and DSL. You can guess where my bet is! :-) IMHO, Milo is what makes @Home a great company. Even if xDSL comes online, it doesn't have the vision nor technology that @Home does.