The DSL business model

[Steve Sobol <sjsobol () NorthShoreTechnologies net>]

[I don't know that I agree that this is off-topic...]

Steve Schaefer wrote:

> 1) ISP's who deploy DSL are on a very slim margin.  They can't afford to
> be "full service."  That doesn't mean that the best DSL ISP's don't
> provide better service than the mediocre or poor DS-1 ISP's, but don't
> expect $500/month support for your $150/month line.
>
> 2) Data CLEC's who provide most of the lines for independent ISP's have a
> challenging business model.  Northpoint went down hard.  That doesn't mean
> that the others will go down hard, too, but they have the same kind of
> risks.  They needed lots of capital and got most of it through debt
> financing.

Well, wasn't the big problem that the DLECs were having trouble turning
around orders, and as a result ended up not getting paid by the ISPs?

> 3) ILEC's don't have a clue.  Some of them are well-intentioned

Which ILECs? I've dealt extensively with Ameritech, although not
recently. The owner of Cleveland's largest local ISP lives (and offers service)
in Verizon territory (former GTE North) and has lots of "wonderful" things
to say about both Verizon and Ameritech. Ameritech was fair-to-middling
until being bought by SBC, and they rolled downhill rapidly after that - the only
positive thing they are doing is the Project Pronto rollout. I can't say
anything about Qwest or Bellsouth, as I've never dealt with them.

> than CLEC DSL).  CLEC's deployed equipment that puts moderate voltage on
> the line and no tone.  ILEC techs are clueless.  Note that all ILEC DSL IP
> ervices run over lines with dial tone...

Here in Cleveland, Ameritech offers only ADSL. I am not sure they even
know what SDSL is. :) They will, however, be happy to sell you 1.5x256 ADSL
for $175 a month!

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