Re: [PLUG] Dedicated loop?

[Doug Crompton <doug@crompton.com>]

Found this....

Dedicated-loop DSL poised for a comeback in the US
Posted 07/08/2004 @ 3:48 PM
by Eric Bangeman

Back in the day (the mid 90s), dedicated-loop DSL was the primary means of
delivering ADSL service. Now it looks to be poised for a comeback, as
Covad this week announced a new dedicated-loop DSL offering in partnership
with Speakeasy. Also known as dry-loop DSL and naked DSL, dedicated-loop
DSL differs from the more common shared-line DSL in that the service is
carried on a dedicated line that does not require voice service. Once
regulators began requiring local telephone companies to lease lines in the
late 90s to DSL providers such as Earthlink and Speakeasy, dedicated-loop
DSL fell by the wayside, as it was more expensive and required the ISP to
come out and do a custom installation.

Despite its greater expense, some forces are leading to its probable
reinsurgence. This past March, the US Court of Appeals upheld the FCC's
plans to phase out DSL unbundling, meaning that Incumbent Local Exchange
Carriers (ILECs) such as Verizon, SBC, and Qwest would no longer be forced
to lease lines to broadband ISPs. The result is that consumers might only
be able to get DSL service from their ILEC, and only if bundled with local
phone service. While Qwest has moved to unbundle DSL from voice service,
other ILECs have yet to follow suit. At the same time, many consumers are
choosing to drop traditional land-line phone service altogether in favor
of cellular and/or VoIP, ruling out traditional DSL as an option. Covad
hopes to cash in on the opportunity by not only giving those without
landlines a dSL option, but by also partially offseting the costs of
delivering dedicated-loop DSL by offering VoIP over its installations.

While the Covad/Speakeasy dedicated-loop DSL service runs US$55.95 per
month for 1.5Mbps down and 256Kbps up, which is considerably more than the
low-end DSL packages offered by the ILECs, it may prove an attractive
alternative to those who neither want nor need a land line. With Covad and
Speakeasy planning on offering a 6.0/768 dedicated-loop DSL package soon,
it may put pressure on the ILECs to improve their offerings, or even to
follow the lead of Qwest in offering naked DSL.




****************************
*  Doug Crompton	   *
*  Richboro, PA 18954	   *
*  215-431-6307		   *
*		  	   *
* doug@crompton.com        *
* wa3dsp@wa3dsp.ampr.org   *
* http://www.crompton.com  *
****************************


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