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To: Herschel Rubin who wrote (3404)	4/23/1998 12:45:00 AM
From: flickerful	Respond to of 9236

May 01, 1998, TechWeb News A New Way to Get Wired By Serdar Yegulalp With the dust barely settled from the 56K modem standards war, another battle to create affordable high-speed Internet connections is looming. Three contenders-cable modems, digital subscriber lines (DSLs) and satellite services-look promising. Cable modems use existing cable TV networks to provide massive amounts of bandwidth for less than $45 a month. But there are drawbacks. Cable-modem service isn't offered in many areas (Cablevision's Optimum Online network in New York is one of the few exceptions). Also, all cable-modem users in the same area share the same segment of bandwidth. When the number of subscribers rises, throughput plummets. Finally, cable modems must often be leased from the provider for a one-time fee of a few hundred dollars, at least for now. DSL modems are about 30 times faster than traditional modems. DSL converts an existing phone line into a dedicated digital line, and doesn't suffer from a cable modem's bandwidth-sharing issues. Still, local phone companies have been slow to implement DSL, and few ISPs support it. Microsoft, Intel Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. hope to jump-start DSL with new hardware by year's end. Pricing for the new devices has not been disclosed. Another option uses satellite dishes. Hughes Network Systems' DirecPC service (http://www.hns.com/5PRODSERV/ProdMain.html) costs less than $130 a month. The hitch: Your computer must dial out with a conventional analog modem to the service provider for all outbound communications. Two-way satellite access isn't possible yet and might never be (at consumer prices) While 56K modems can't compare for speed, it'll be a while before most users ditch their conventional modems for these faster rivals. Copyright (c) 1998 CMP Media Inc. techweb.com