Re: [PLUG] DSL providers (was: Install)

[k hill <cavegirl@bolverk.net>]

Michael Leone wrote:
> 
> > > Broadband just isn't what it was cracked up to be for the average
> > > human being (as opposed to the system administrator, gamer, so
> > > forth).
> >
> > Agreed, if you can't use standard connections to the potential they
> > present, what is broadband, with it's heftier price tag, going to do for
> > you?
> 
> I pay $5 more for DSL than I paid for dial-up ($20 month for account, $25
> for 2nd phone line), for a 10-12x speed increase, using standard DSL from
> Verizon with DCA as ISP. So, for a 11% increase in cost, I got a 1000%-1200%
> increase in speed.

For me it was a similar increase, but my household had a better than
average plan with more e-mail and kick butt service, no second line, but
I really don't use my land line much. I agree for heavy users the
current cost benefit is untouchable, but what I was trying to say, and
looking back on what I wrote, did a piss poor job of doing it, is that
subscription rates are far below what the clec's and Verizon
anticipated. I see the equipment sitting mostly unused, while T-1 and
higher level lines are where the installation money is at or was any
ways. Sprint is the only one doing a lot of dsl installation in COs, and
I wonder where they are headed with it. This information comes from my
work in COs but it is obviously limited to the COs I or my friends at
the company worked in. I am saying I think costs are going to increase
and stop being such a hot deal in the near future.

> Know anything else that will give you a 10x-12x increase for a $5 increase
> in cost? Even if I only had 1 phone line to start, that would be a 10x-12x
> speed increase for double the money.

Point granted.
 
> And besides, nobody gets DSL or cable or other broadband, if they're only
> online an hr or 2 a week, or just to check email every other day. For those
> people, broadband is a waste. For the other 99.99% of the population, it's
> the best deal going. :-)

Realistically, I don't think 99.9% of the population could utilize
broadband services
the way any member on this list does. I do think they would appreciate
the increase in 
speed, but getting DSL hooked up for someone who has never cracked a box
and is intimidated by technical terms is scary. My mom, who is a member
of a huge financial segment, could never do it.  I had to set up her ISP
services and it came with a set up disk. My partners step father wreaks
so much havoc on his box that we have considered adding him to our LAN
and taking away any admin services. (MS) 
 
> (there may be better, faster alternatives, but they don't deliver the same
> price/performance ratio to the consumer)

Give me T-1 and someone else the bill, woo hoo. I understand the point
you are making, but I think that you may be forgetting the (huge)
portion of the population who could not follow this debate and use their
boxes as glorified personal organizers. That is money the clec's were
going after and did not get. How does an ISP make dsl painless to my
mom? I don't know. If I did I seriously doubt I would be unemployed. 

pinky
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