Bandwidth on Demand

Digital Subscriber Lines: Phone Lines at Phenomenal Speeds

Award-winning pastry chef Ron Ben-Israel mixes new technology with his old-fashioned business: He connects his New York bakery to the Net via a DSL line, sending photos of cakes to clients and updating his mouthwatering site at www.weddingcakes.com. "The bottom line is that [DSL is] fast," he says. "This gives me more time to be creative."

The same copper wire that delivers phone service can transport DSL, and some DSL versions can run over 100 times faster than dial-up. The ubiquity of phone wires makes DSL a good choice for businesses that aren't wired for cable.

The drawback is that most folks can't get DSL yet. And even where it is available, DSL usually offers less than cable modems do. According to Bob Granadino at the ISP EarthLink, DSL "is so brand-new that [telephone companies] are still learning how to deploy it."

DSL's Many Faces

Whereas cable modem service looks similar from place to place, DSL is a chameleon. Flavors range from IDSL (ISDN DSL) to HDSL (High Bit-Rate DSL). Most variations are forms of ADSL; the A stands for "asymmetric," which means that the service sends data downstream to your PC faster than it sends data upstream to the Net, as with 56-kbps modems and most cable service. Because Web pages travel downstream for viewing, that direction is important to Web surfers. Telecommuters who routinely send big files upstream should consider a symmetrical form of DSL.

As you'd expect given its phone-line origin, DSL is being deployed by regional Bells such as Bell Atlantic, Pacific Bell, and US West, which will compete with local phone carriers such as Covad and NorthPoint. Both types of carriers usually offer several forms of DSL, all of which deliver a persistent connection that coexists with your phone service, so you can talk and surf simultaneously.

Unlike cable companies, most DSL providers don't bundle the pipe and the access. Just as with dial-up, you can get DSL service from your phone company and Net access from an ISP. Today, only a few ISPs offer access through DSL, but more are expected to get on board. Chef Ben-Israel gets his DSL from Transwire. "I like working with a small company that knows me," he explains. "Everyone in New York has a story about the phone company, and don't get me started on Time Warner [a cable TV supplier]."

Prices All Over the Map

So far, there's little logic governing regional DSL pricing. For instance, as we go to press, US West's 7-mbps DSL service, available in the Rocky Mountain area, costs $840 a month (without Net access), while Bell Atlantic charges just $190 each month for 7.1-mbps DSL and Net access in the Northeast. The lowest DSL monthly rates we found hovered around $50 (including ISP costs) for downstream speeds of 256 to 640 kbps, depending on the provider. Hardware and installation costs are inconsistent, too. You may find a DSL modem and installation under special promotion for just $99, or pay up to $600 for the modem, an ethernet card, and setup.

We tested DSL from Pacific Bell and DNAI, both in Northern California. (DNAI is an ISP that bundles Net access with Covad's DSL connection.) Each line offers rates of up to 1.5 mbps downstream and 384 kbps upstream. And both performed impressively in most of our tests, achieving speeds comparable to those of cable modems--from 300 to 1000 percent faster than a 56-kbps dial-up connection.

But unlike some forms of DSL, neither of these two services runs cheap enough for home use: Pacific Bell charges $159 a month; DNAI, $345. Still, for businesses contemplating T1 or frame relay, they're bargains. In fact, some industry wonks accuse phone companies of delaying DSL deployment to protect their high-profit frame relay and T1 line franchises. Not true, respond phone company reps, who argue that DSL appeals to different customers. "[DSL] pricing will be a great alternative for small and medium-size businesses," says Jeff Bolton, director of the ADSL program office at GTE.

Service Gotchas

Though DSL comes into your location through a phone line, it's not plug-and-play. Most forms require a technician to install a splitter. DSL can also react fussily to your line quality, as Tim Scoff of Pittsburgh discovered when he signed up for Bell Atlantic's Infospeed service. His old house's wiring wasn't up to snuff, so the firm had to string a new line. "But once they did," he says, "it just worked."

The new G.Lite standard will eliminate the need for a splitter, theoretically making DSL modems easier to install. At maximum speed G.Lite will run at 1.5 mbps downstream and 384 kbps upstream. No provider offers it yet, but it may be cheaper than many forms of DSL. Analysts predict we'll see G.Lite modems costing $250 to $300 by the middle of this year, while Compaq is already shipping PCs with built-in 56-kbps G.Lite modems.

DSL has various technical problems that prevent providers from deploying it everywhere the phone network goes. For one thing, it's incompatible with some phone company equipment and can reach spots only within a certain distance (usually under 18,000 feet) of switching equipment. Thus, the service can't get to about 30 percent of lines in DSL-enabled areas.

DSL providers hope to reduce limitations. For now, talk to your phone company about availability. Luckily, analysts predict lower fees, and research firm TeleChoice forecasts growth in North American DSL lines from under 40,000 now to 904,000 at the end of 2000.

Don't Kill Your Modem

Despite the hype, cable and DSL have glitches to resolve before they make the 56-kbps modem a relic. Research firm Jupiter Communications forecasts that 80 percent of users will connect via standard modem in 2002. And we may always use dial-up when traveling.

Which is not to say that those who switch to cable modems or DSL now will regret it. "As long as the on-ramps are crowded," Jupiter's Abhi Chaki notes, "there's going to be frustration." While most Net users are traffic-bound, cable modems and DSL put some in the express lane. How would you rather travel?