Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qwest Communications (Q) (formerly QWST) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scotsman who wrote (3417)	4/14/1999 9:21:00 AM
From: EenieMeenie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6846

Scotsman, This legislative process has been going on for some time. It is going to pass. I promise. I will ban myself for life from all telecom boards if it doesn't. Unless you run a cable company, you have every reason to hope this passes. Considering the fact that you are a consumer and all. You have to believe me on this one. Your pseudoeconomist, Chris

To: Scotsman who wrote (3417)	4/14/1999 9:33:00 AM
From: Mark Woolfson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6846

Scotsman, This is happening on its own. What I think the ISP's want is to get better leverage into the cable companies to use THEIR pricing infrastructure in a different manner than the traditional RBOC usage and fee packages. This saves ISP's a ton of money in a variety of ways. My cable company on Long Island, NY has had internet access through its system for 2 years now and has only begun to roll out services to subscribers. I get anywhere from 100Kbps-500Kbps for $35/mo. including internet access (of course). I had an ISDN line prior to this that cost me about $70/mo JUST FOR THE LINE and my average usage. I then had to have an ISP that has ISDN services. That cost me another $35/mo. So all told I spent $100/mo compared to $35/mo with cable. I got faster access and saved $780/year. What do the telcos now have, DSL. You would think this would be different, no? Well, not enough. My regional carrier's DSL plan calls for that same monthly connect charges and a separate Internet access plan - which still mirrors the ISDN service. It seems that they cannot get away from this cost structure for whatever reason. My cable carrier will be eating them up alive, plain and simple. I cannot imagine that this is isolated. I am sure other cable companies are doing this too. So why wouldn't ISP's want to get into the cable backbone. Right now I would imagine the resistance is that cable companies don't have the infrastructure to handle the load of an ISP and won't cater to them. Legally, they don't have to because cable TV access (the wire's original use) is traditionally sold to residential, not businesses. My cable company is having its own share of growth problems and it makes perfect sense why they would. There is simply not enough of an installed hardware base to support the demand, period. If they tried to get an ISP they would fail. Also, they would lose their ability to sell Internet access on its own. Mark