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Two Baby Bells Announce ADSL Plans

Pac Bell, Atlantic Bell to inaugurate high-speed phone service in summer or fall.

By Kerry Hall, PCWorld   

Bell Atlantic and Pacific Bell executives last week announced plans to roll out new, high-speed phone service in late summer or early fall. Called asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL), the service permits data transmission at speeds of 1.5MB per second and more downstream and 384 kilobits per second upstream, compared to todays maximums of 33.6 kbps.

ADSL should be particularly useful for multimedia and other high-bandwidth applications. A spokesman for Pacific Bells parent, Pacific Telesis, says the service will be ideal for telecommuters who need to download large files, such as video clips.

ADSL is relatively easy for phone companies to set up because it uses existing copper wires. The companies simply attach new equipment on their end, and customers need a specialized ADSL modem plus the appropriate network interface card.

A major drawback, however, is that the service will be available to only a few users, at least for a couple of years. Bell Atlantic will begin testing within four to six weeks in Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington, chief executive Ray Smith told a technology conference in Palm Springs, California. He said the service could become available in August but declined to say where.

A Pacific Telesis spokesman said the company would roll out ADSL in California%squots Silicon Valley in September and the rest of the state next year.

Of other companies contacted about plans for ADSL, Ameritech indicated that it is already conducting trials and may offer some Chicago-area residents commercial service in mid-1997, while Southwestern Bell customers in San Antonio, Texas, may see the service later this year. GTE is conducting Seattle-area trials involving employees at Microsoft and dozens of other firms.

Service Is Costly

Where the service does become available, costs (estimated by phone companies at $75 to $150 a month) may prove a barrier for non-business use. Modems will also be expensive. Analyst Dan Merriman of the Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts said ADSL-compatible modems sold this year could cost around $1000.

ADSL users will also have to buy hardware that is not yet standardized, something PC users don%squott like to do, said Vern Mackall, a senior analyst with International Data Corporation. %dquotOne modem isnt going to speak all the dialects for ADSL,%dquot he said.

To address both compatibility and cost, Merriman said customers should try to lease modems from phone companies. %dquotThese modems will evolve quite quickly. Until the two standards converge, it will be wise for people to get the modem provided as part of the service.%dquot

San Jose-based Dataquest projects 1997 ADSL modem sales of 210,000, mostly to businesses.

One of Many Options

ADSL is just one option for faster Internet access. Cable modems and ISDN are already on the market. ISDN, while widely available, is not an ideal solution from the phone company perspective, said analyst Emily Green of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forester Research Group.

%dquotIt adds to the problems telephone companies already have with their overloaded telephone networks,%dquot she said. Cable modems, on the other hand, are fast and efficient, but are available to only a few thousand people. Also, cable users have to share back-link bandwidth with many users, while ADSL provides dedicated links.

Gigas Merriman views ADSL as a nice high-end service because it allows users to have a voice line and to use their telephone and fax machine while using their modem. But Merriman doesnt expect the service to be widely available until at least 1998.

Green agrees. %dquotADSL is very sexy technology. I don%squott doubt its ability to deliver a satisfying experience for Internet access,%dquot she said. %dquotI just think its unlikely that ADSL will reach the consumer any time in the near future. Its too expensive.%dquot