[Nolug] reasons for DSL's death

AFAIK, this all goes back to the fed's mandated breakup of AT&T, way back in
the 70s. The Baby Bells (SBC, Southern Bell over to the east, PacBell, etc.,
7 in all) and/or AT&T were told to open their circuits to competing digital
providers.

Back then, the Internet didn't exist outside of a few universities and
military installations, not to mention the fact that ppl were using 300-baud
modems, if that. Long distance was king, and Ma Bell and her children for the
most part ruled that domain, not to mention the fact that most of the local
exhange carriers in America (LECs for short) were Bell. They never figured
on 56k modems (not that it really matters, you still need to pay the phone
company in order to dial up an ISP) and they certainly never dreamed that
broadband as we know it would exist. They also never figured that the bottom
would fall out of the long distance market. You can get rates as low as 2
cents per minute (I pay about a nickel myself), and Bell can't make any money
at that game any more.

The motivation (long distance revenue) behind agreeing to let competitors
access their data lines is gone, and therefore Bell wants the data market to
make up revenue shortfalls. They are still required to give competing data
companies (DSL providers) access, but they do so begrudgingly, now that their
gravy train is gone. DSL ISPs play h*ll trying to get Bell to let them into
the CO, and basically do everything they can to make the DSL business seem
unattractive as possible, money- and access-wise. Technically, Bell is
complying with the federal mandate, but just barely.

As a result, DSL companies can't make a living and most of them are gone
already. Bell is hoping that their broadband competitors either fold or
provide such horrible service (due to Bell's iron fist in the CO and plant)
to the customer that the customer switches to Bell under the perception that
Bell is better than $ISP.

As an aside, the cable TV market, in addition to offering broadband, has
gotten the OK to offer POTS (plain old telephone service), and Cox is now
advertising that service here in Nola. One of my co-workers had that
installed this week, actually. The upside of this is that by law they are
required to maintain 99.9999 (you get the idea) uptime on their POTS service
(since your 911 calls go through Cox), which means that your broadband
connection is pretty much guaranteed to stay up 24/7 if you also have
telephone service through Cox.

^C

Before I get flamed on some minor point, please remember that I'm doing this
from memory. We all know that I got most of this right :-)

--Joey

>
>I would be leary of using Digicomm for one reason.... When I worked
>out at the UNO Research Park, I got inside info on Digicomm. Turns
>out they laid off all but the two owners and one or two technical
>people...
>
>As well, I'd be leary using DSL because so much of the DSL bill you pay
>is going to Bellsouth. And yes, no matter what people say, IT IS the
>RBOC's (Bellsouth, Verizon, etc. ) fault for these companies going
>under... How can a company turn a profit, pay people, run a network,
>etc when they are getting LESS than $20 per subscriber because of the
>RBOCs? Thanks Bellsouth... Thanks FCC... And thanks to that
>idiot, puppet FCC chairman put in by that numbskull in the White House.
>Competition is dead/diing for the last mile and it won't be soon before
>all DSL in this area is through Bellsouth alone (ie, FastAccess) if
>things keep going that direction.
>
>Very ticked,
>Jeremy

-- 
Joey Kelly
< Minister of the Gospel | Computer Networking Consultant >
http://joeykelly.net
I'd rather crash a Ford than wreck a Chevy
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