🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5aji63$5k7@nntp1.best.com> reply@dauster.vip.best.com writes:

>It's interesting to note however that at the same time that we hear that 
>Pac Bell is scaling back from plans to leapfrog cable companies with a 
>fiber cable TV service to the home, we hear that TCI is scaling back 
>plans to leapfrog da bells by offering high speed modem access to the 
>internet.

The funny thing about competition is the fact that once a market has
competitors, the prices drop and suddenly all the green starts turning
a little brown. A couple of years ago, many were convinced beyond a
doubt that becoming an Internet provider was a journey on the road to
riches. Now there are more Internet providers than we can count, all
struggling to make a buck on the $19.95/month masses. 

Pac*Bell saw that lucrative cable market, but now is facing the same
reality that TCI sees: cable is just another player in the home
entertainment market. TCI, on the other hand, with its cash cow drying
up, is forced to reconsider its grandiose plans to cash in on the
Internet and on local phone service.

The Internet can be roughly divided into two classes of customers: home
and business. Home folks (the 19.95/month crowd) are high maintenance.
There are collection issues, "customer service" issues, and they provide
low-density income. Business customers are "high density", paying
hundreds of dollars per month each, require little in the way of
customer service after initial turn up, and have sufficient investment in
the service to keep the provider's bill paid. "@Home" is strictly for
the home customers.

As far as entering the phone market is concerned, with already a
half-dozen major players gearing up to offer local service frequently
with no investment in plant through the reselling of the established
LEC, TCI would have to have a screw loose to pour a ton of money into
creating local telephone plant, only to find itself in a cut-throat
market similar to the home Internet biz. TCI is not used to such
markets, and would no doubt turn its current money leak into a raging
torrent.

I, for one, have a difficult time understanding how we, the consumers
ultimately benefit from some company, such as MCI, siphoning off twenty
percent of our local phone bill for doing absolutely nothing. I
certainly hope no one thinks that Pac*Bell is going to give any service
priority to lines that it is deeply discounting to MCI for resale.

>I can't help but wonder if this is really just posturing on the part of 
>both companies.

Some if it is, for sure. But there is a lot of consternation in board
rooms right now. These bright green pastures have become muddy since
the little doses of reality have kicked in. The most disappointed of
all are the consumers, who are discovering that all this wonderful
competition is neither lowering prices, nor is it improving any
service, except for some lucky people here and there.

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 John Higdon  |    P.O. Box 7648   |   +1 408 264 4115     |       FAX:
 john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 |   +1 500 FOR-A-MOO    | +1 408 264 4407
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