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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike Torrence who wrote (20529)	6/5/1999 10:05:00 PM
From: Franco	Respond to of 41369

I just wanted to toss in my 2 cents as I am normally a quite, albeit interested, silent observer of this forum. It seems to me that this "thing" between ATHM & AOL is quite simple... I have subscribed to the notion, during my 21 year stint in computer/telecomms business" that the market has always conceded to technical superiority but NEVER AT THE EXPENCE OF CRITICAL MASS!!! Using this simple formula, which is almost NEVER wrong, AOL WINS--hands down! AOL is the only player in the Internet with this sort of critical mass & making money & growing @$1M+ users per month--not to mention the assets & potential they control via Netscape. It's not important if the current service offering is as good as the competition, it's just not important if the link speed isn't as fast... THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN TOWN IS CRITICAL MASS, EYEBALLS, EXISTING CUSTOMERS, PAYING CUSTOMERS!!! All else will soon follow... PUT YOUR MONEY ON AOL & go for the ride! -Franco

To: Mike Torrence who wrote (20529)	6/5/1999 10:15:00 PM
From: Brian Malloy	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 41369

To all, It will take decades for all this to work and be built out. I remember Master Limited Partnerships that what sold by the cable boys like Jones Intercable in the 70's when they were first building out the cable networks. A 10K investment usually netted you 30-80K five years down the road. Here we are some 25 years later and cable, well you know. DSL will be more pervasive than cable. As we speak Bell South is upping the ante. The phone company will put a high speed access line right into the home. Only 400 homes to start with. Yep, it's in its infancy but the RBOC's have the time, well you know. Atlanta First North American Site For Fiber-To-The-Home System New BellSouth Network Architecture Delivers High-speed Internet Access, Digital Video and CD-Quality Sound ... Internet access at super high speeds through a 100 megabit-per-second interface (actual speeds available to customers during the trial will be limited to tariffed BellSouth consumer high-speed data offerings) 120 channels of digital video entertainment, 70 channels of analog video entertainment, and 31 channels of CD-quality digital audio service. ... 209.207.238.30 Just something to consider - Oh, Cable Guy!

To: Mike Torrence who wrote (20529)	6/6/1999 7:28:00 PM
From: David E. Taylor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

William: I think you're overstating the difficulty of installing cable internet access. Here on LI/NY, Cablevision upgraded their network to fiber to allow high speed 2-way traffic. I was one of the first to get hooked up for internet access last Fall, it took one guy just one hour to install the splitter on the pole (no hole digging!), install a cable from a signal splitter in the house, install the NIC/modem/software, and make sure it all worked. Total installation cost $120, service at $34.95/month. If I want to pipe the signal to the other two computers in my home, they'll install a second cable from the pole to bring in the data signal separate from the TV signal (both signals currently come down the same cable). The big problem is with older cable networks that haven't been upgraded for 2-way traffic, because then you can get high speed downloads, but pokey slow uploads. Mine is 1.5 mbps both ways. Now I don't know what the overall status is for cable system upgrade nationwide to high speed 2-way networks, but cable is available "on-the-pole" in all major metropolitan areas, which probably covers 65% or more of the entire market, so while older networks will have to be upgraded for a variety of reasons, that's a process that's already underway. So for the majority of people who can be served by cable, I don't see why the installation would be any more difficult or costly than mine, once the basic network upgrade is done. As for DSL, my understanding is that since it's a dedicated line, you need DSL gear at both ends. Installation and monthly costs?? I've seen some prices quoted and it sounds like you'll have to pay more for higher speed, but it's probably not any cheaper than my cable hook up for the same speed. David T.