From 5-28-98 LA Times Business Section...
Thursday, May 28, 1998
PacBell Plans High-Speed Internet Lines for Southland
Telecom: Company would begin rolling out faster-access service to L.A.
and 200 other California communities in July.
By ELIZABETH DOUGLASS, Times Staff Writer
latimes.com
Full Text...
In a move that could help quench Internet
users' thirst for faster connections, Pacific
Bell said Wednesday it plans to offer high-speed
lines in Los Angeles and 200 other California
communities by the end of summer.
The phone company's long-awaited new service, called
asymmetrical digital subscriber line--or ADSL--service, promises to
bring millions of PacBell's customers in Southern California
something largely unavailable to them to date: speedy Internet
access without the cost and hassles of specialty access lines.
Calling the project an indication of its commitment to "provide
Californians with the speed they need," PacBell said it will begin
rolling out ADSL in July. By August, the company plans to offer
service to up to 5 million customers in Los Angeles, Orange,
Ventura and San Diego counties, as well as in Sacramento, the San
Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.
While not the fastest mode of Internet access, ADSL--a
relatively new technology--could become popular with
small-business and home-office users. ADSL uses regular copper
phone lines and allows users to access the Internet at speeds 50
times faster than conventional analog modems, which generally run
at speeds of less than 28.8 kilobits per second.
The technology has the added advantage of providing always-on
Internet access that would not interfere with voice calls coming in
over the same copper line.
But customers would pay a high price for the convenience and
fast connection. PacBell's service would cost from $89 to as much
as $339 per month, depending on the package and the speed
provided.
PacBell's least expensive package, for
example, would give home users transmission
speeds of up to 384kbps for receiving data, and a slower 128kbps
for sending. The most expensive package would offer speeds of up
to 1.5 megabits per second for downloading and 384kbps for
sending. All packages would include Internet service, although
customers could choose an alternative Internet service provider.
In addition, start-up costs for PacBell's ADSL service--including
a special modem, other equipment and installation fees--could add
one-time fees ranging from $400 to $700. PacBell has not yet set
prices for the hardware it will offer.
By comparison, US West and Ameritech offer ADSL access
and Internet service in parts of Arizona, Colorado, Utah,
Minnesota, Idaho and Michigan, for about $60 a month, plus
equipment and installation.
And GTE Corp., the state's second-largest local phone
company, is gearing up to offer service in Los Angeles and
elsewhere starting in July.
Proposed prices for GTE's ADSL service are expected to range
from $60 per month for lower speeds to up to $150 per month for
the highest speed. GTE also plans to allow customers the option of
renting equipment for $12 per month.
Still, observers applauded PacBell's move, calling it a vital step
for the company.
"The phone companies need to have a high-speed entry in order
to survive," said Jeffrey Kagan, president of Kagan Telecom
Associates, an Atlanta consulting firm. "Their customers will be
wanting it and demanding it because there's a hunger for speed."
In Silicon Valley, where the demand for speed
is most acute, PacBell has been widely criticized
for its inability to provide a lower-speed cousin to ADSL called
integrated services digital network, or ISDN.
"The high-tech guys say ISDN was not offered with a
reasonable price or in a user-friendly way," said Randy Chinn, chief
consultant for the state Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications
Committee, which held hearings earlier this year on high-speed
Internet access. "[ADSL] is a reasonable foot in the door."
Still, the service won't appeal to everyone.
The price, for one, may keep moderate Internet users away.
Cable modem-based services, while not widely available, offer
customers unlimited Internet access at higher speeds than ADSL
does for between $40 and $50 per month.
In addition, satellite-based Internet services and other rivals are
targeting the same users. Satellite access costs range from $19.95
to $129.95 a month depending on the package, plus the cost of a
satellite dish and installation. This option could provide access
speeds of at least 400kbps.
PacBell's ADSL service will work only up to 16,000 feet from
an ADSL-equipped central office switch, and only on certain types
of copper networks. Thus, prospective customers must first call
PacBell to find out if the service is available to them.
And, as consumer groups have pointed out, PacBell's ISDN
snafus still loom large in many Internet users' minds.
"We've seen a tremendous inability by PacBell to provide an
acceptable level of service with ISDN, and ISDN's been around for
years now," said Barry Fraser of Utility Consumers' Action
Network, a San Diego-based consumer group. "If they couldn't do
it with ISDN, how are they going to do it with ADSL?" |
