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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Teflon who wrote (19279)	3/30/1999 12:57:00 PM
From: Smart Investor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

The following is what I got in an e-mail yesterday, and I do not have the details right now. With the re-organization at MSFT, it is becoming clear that MSFT intends to compete strongly in online service, e-commerce and advertising. With strong revenues from other sources, MSFT can afford to offer these services at much lower prices, which will be very bad to AOL and YHOO. It has already been reported before that MSFT intends to leapfrog AOL by using high speed lines or cable. ** Microsoft begins high-speed trial Microsoft Corp. today began trials of its new high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL) in four U.S. cities. Being tested in Atlanta and Seattle at first, with Chicago and San Diego soon to go online. The service is expected to be available in 20 U.S. cities by fall.

To: Teflon who wrote (19279)	3/30/1999 1:10:00 PM
From: ericneu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

> Is MSFT using US West lines to provide their MSFT DSL service in Seattle or are they providing this service through some alternative platform?? While I don't have the details handy, I'm sure it's simply DSL service from the local RBOC being resold under the MSN label. > Does this new MSFT DSL Internet Access then directly compete with the DSL service that US West is looking to provide to its customers? And if so, how does the pricing work out if US West is essentially allowing other entities to provide competing DSL service over its own lines? Also, What type of Central Office does MSFT have to set up to provide the DSL service, or are they basically outsourcing the central office function of their service??? No differently than any other ISP offering DSL service over RBOC lines. The RBOC handles the "last-mile" wiring, and the data traffic is routed onto the ISPs network (MSN, in this case) at the CO. The ISP and the RBOC split the monthly payment, generally about 2/3rds going to the RBOC. FYI - I'm typing this on a 384K DSL connection over GTE wiring, but GTE isn't my ISP. - Eric

To: Teflon who wrote (19279)	3/30/1999 1:27:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Is MSFT using US West lines to provide their MSFT DSL service in Seattle Great questions. I can't find out specific answers about the msn service, but here's some info about what they'd be competing with in one of the two places the trial is taking place. From the start, USWest's DSL lines have been open to other ISPs. Several local companies in Seattle and elsewhere have been providing DSL since the start of the service in July. (list: uswest.com I ended up getting everything (DSL+ISP) from USWest since their pricing was slightly better last summer, but one of the competing ISPs I looked at seemed to handle it this way: The ISP put their equipment in one or several of USWest's offices. The DSL line between my house and the ISP's equipment would belong to USWest, but would be billed to the ISP who would bill me. I'd deal only with the ISP for service and support. But since I opted for USWest on everything, they charge me on the phone bill for both the DSL line and the ISP service, and they "handle" (if you can call it that) service and support. What's interesting about the msn announcement is that they might be offering higher maximum speeds and lower prices than what's available already, but they'd seem to have no choice in Seattle at least other than use USWest's lines since there isn't yet a competitive local exchange carrier for residential lines. (There are a few business-only CLECs, however.)