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Technology Stocks : AT&T -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DavidCG who wrote (2385)	5/7/1999 5:25:00 AM
From: Tecinvestor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4298

DavidCG, I've been asking the same kinds of questions. I'm in NYC. My ISP is AOL. My cable company is RCN. RCN offers one way cable modem (which requires a phone line), which it is in the process of upgrading to two way cable modem (which does not require a phone line). Time Warner is the other cable company in NYC. However, TW does not yet offer cable modem in NYC. Surprisingly, NYC is way behind in cable modem availability. I went on RCN's cable modem several months ago and, as I said, it's one way, meaning that RCN installed a second analog modem and a cable modem (both at no charge), and I use a phone line. When I go in via RCN's analog modem and cable modem, I go onto RCN's ISP, which is Errols. I then link in to AOL through Errols. So, in effect, I have two ISPs. When I advised AOL that I had converted to cable modem AOL dropped my monthly fee from $22 to $10 because I no longer utilize one of AOL's lines to dial in. I pay RCN about $40 for cable modem, which effectively translates to about $30 because of the reduction I received from AOL. Now, AOL is losing $12/month revenue from me (and others similarly situated) because I use cable modem unrelated to AOL. I must assume that soon, AOL will do something to rectify the problem of this revenue loss and it wouldn't surprise me if they strategically aligned with a company like ATHM to cure, or partially cure, the problem of revenue loss. I assume that AOL could work out a revenue sharing arrangement with a high speed internet access provider if it (AOL) were to direct its clients to that high speed internet access provider. The other approach could be for AOL to become the designated ISP of, say, T's cable operation (consisting of TCI, UMG and others), using ATHM for the provision of high speed internet access. Bottom line, it wouldn't surprise me to see T form a strategic alliance with AOL to utilize ATHM as a high speed internet access provider. Comments?