🚀 go-pugleaf

Andrys D Basten wrote:
> 
> This will be real competition for cablemodem here in California.  The
> cheaper $39/mo. package (which doesn't use PacBell as ISP, but $10
> more if it does) offers up to 1.5Mbps downloads (384 kbps guaranteed)
> and 128kbps uploads.  The $39/mo. price is for those who commit to a
> year or more.
> 
>   It's ready in more areas than I had thought.  But still isn't
> available in about 2/3rds of the places planned.  Here's the
> announcement.  Go to:
> 
>  http://www.sbc.com/PB/News/Article.html?query_type=article&query=19990112-04
> 
> to use the links involved, which take you to Pac Bell's special pages
> (where you can check availability for your prefix), and to view the
> tables.
> 
> ==== Text of PR piece ====
> 
>   Got Bandwidth? Pacific Bell Answers California's "need for
>   speed" with $39 ADSL Service, Major Availability
> 
> Lightning-Fast ADSL Enables Californians to Make the Most of the
> Internet; SBC Announces Largest Deployment of ADSL in the United
> States
> 
> San Francisco, California, January 12, 1999
> 
> The wait for affordable super-fast access to the Internet is over
> for millions of California households and small businesses.
> Pacific Bell announced today it is reducing prices on its popular
> high-speed Internet access service and making it available to
> millions more of its customers throughout the Golden State.
> 
> In a related announcement today, Pacific Bell's parent company,
> SBC Communications, Inc. (SBC), announced plans for the largest
> rollout of Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) service in
> the country. By the end of 1999, SBC intends to provide ADSL
> service from 526 central offices to 8.2 million residential and
> 1.3 million business customers. In California, Pacific Bell will
> almost triple its current deployment of ADSL, providing service
> in central offices that serve 70 percent of its customers by the
> end of the year.
> 
> Pacific Bell plans to offer "always on" ADSL service with
> guaranteed minimum connection speeds -- which enables users to
> connect to the Internet at speeds up to 200 times faster than
> today's conventional 28.8 Kpbs modems -- for as low as $39 a
> month. In addition, Pacific Bell and Pacific Bell Internet
> Services will offer ADSL service and Internet access packages for
> as little as $49 per month. ADSL equipment and installation will
> be available for as little as $198. These new, attractive price
> points represent a decrease of 45 percent for ADSL service and
> Internet access, and 34 percent for ADSL installation and
> equipment.
> 
> *See attachment for specific pricing details.
> 
> By reducing its cost and boosting deployment, Pacific Bell is
> making high-speed Internet access a viable option today for
> millions of households and small businesses who are looking for
> greater bandwidth to make the most of the Internet or to connect
> to the office network from home. Pacific Bell will invest more
> than $100 million in 1999 to upgrade its ADSL technology and
> equip 255 central offices with the service. Pacific Bell
> estimates that as many as 5 million residential and 900,000
> business customers will qualify for ADSL service from the 255
> central offices.
> 
> "Got bandwidth? For the vast majority of Americans, the answer is
> still no," said Ed Mueller, president and CEO of Pacific Bell.
> "Fortunately for Californians, Pacific Bell is answering the
> Golden State's "need for speed" by undertaking the country's
> largest single-state deployment of ADSL service and making it
> substantially more affordable. Now, Californians can surf the web
> and connect to the office at quicksilver speeds for less than the
> cost of taking a family of four to the movies."
> 
> "We are confident ADSL service from Pacific Bell will become the
> high-speed Internet access of choice for California. We're
> putting ADSL within reach of millions more Californians so that
> customers will get great value, superior service, all the speed
> they need and transport provided over the highly-reliable Pacific
> Bell network," added Mueller.
> 
> With the $39 per month ADSL service, Pacific Bell's customers can
> simultaneously use a phone or fax machine while getting
> downstream connection speeds up to 1.5 Mbps and an upstream
> connection speed of 128 Kbps -- 50 times faster than today's most
> common 28.8 analog modems.
> 
> Downstream through-put speeds will vary depending on the
> customer's distance from the central office and other factors,
> but the connection speed will be at a guaranteed minimum of 384
> Kbps. Pacific Bell estimates 75 percent of its customers
> qualifying for ADSL will get downstream connection speeds of 1.5
> Mbps.
> 
> For customers demanding higher speeds, Pacific Bell and Pacific
> Bell Internet Services will offer a package with downstream
> connection speeds of up to 6 Mbps, and an upstream connection
> speed of 384 Kbps. Downstream connection speeds will be
> guaranteed at a minimum of 1.5 Mbps.
> 
> In addition to downloading data, graphics, audio and video,
> ADSL's speed transforms e-commerce transactions by creating
> faster responses for on-line traders and buyers, faster
> information exchanges between business partners and faster
> on-line sales. And the e-commerce explosion is just beginning. In
> fact, Deloitte & Touche predicts a four-fold increase in
> e-commerce during the next two years.
> 
> ADSL: A Better Broadband Solution
> 
> With today's announcement, more than half of Pacific Bell's
> customers will be able to subscribe to lightning-fast ADSL
> service by the end of the year. This is crucial because industry
> insiders estimate 35 percent of the nation's Internet traffic
> begins and ends in California. Add that to the fact more than 3.7
> million Pacific Bell households are anticipated to be online by
> the year 2000, and you have the start of a "big" bandwidth
> revolution, explained Mueller.
> 
> When compared to cable modems, ADSL ensures greater reliability,
> better security and more consistent speeds, experts say, because
> the service is delivered via a dedicated line from a central
> office to the individual user's home or office. In addition,
> Pacific Bell's ADSL runs on the Pacific Bell network, one of the
> most reliable in the world. And customers choosing Pacific Bell
> Internet Services, surf on one of the country's most
> sophisticated Internet backbones and benefit from award-winning
> service and support.
> 
> Because cable modems depend on shared bandwidth among a group of
> users, accessing the Internet via cable modem is a "floating crap
> game," said Amy Wohl, Wohl Associates, a market research company.
> "If you're using it for telecommuting, there would be some places
> where not too many people are home during the day and you'd be
> fine. And there would be other places where you're sharing it
> with three elementary schools and 42 other telecommuters, and it
> will be terrible."
> 
> For example, Andrew Abbate, a computer consultant with a Bay Area
> start-up company, has his home hooked to Pacific Bell's ADSL.
> When telecommuting, Abbate values the service's security so he
> can conduct on-line banking and download massive audio and video
> files. In recent months, Abbate also used ADSL to design an
> interactive Web site and build a virtual private network.
> 
> "ADSL has changed the way I work and communicate via the
> Internet," said Abbate. "Thanks to Pacific Bell's ADSL, the World
> Wide Web is no longer the World Wide Wait."
> 
> Pacific Bell believes the demand for ADSL will soar now that the
> service is widely available and affordable. In fact, DataQuest, a
> market research company, predicts the number of ADSL subscribers
> could zoom from 50,000 now to 5 million worldwide by 2002.
> 
> ADSL Update
> 
> SBC also announced plans today to offer ADSL service to millions
> of its customers in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and
> Arkansas by the end of 1999, and will begin ADSL trials in
> Connecticut later this month.
> 
> The company has also completed joint initiatives with Dell
> Computer Corp. and Compaq Computer to promote more convenient
> access to ADSL.
> 
> "We are moving aggressively to provide the advanced high-speed
> data services customers throughout our territory are demanding,"
> said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., SBC chairman and CEO. "We are
> committed to ADSL technology and to building the multi-media
> corridor to homes and businesses that will enable people to
> change the way that they work, learn, shop and play."
> 
> Whitacre said that SBC is filing tariffs today with the Federal
> Communications Commission for regulatory clearance to offer ADSL
> to customers in all five Southwestern states.
> 
> Pacific Bell launched ADSL service in May 1998. By Sept. 1998,
> the company had completed ADSL deployment in about 90 California
> central offices, making the service available to more than 1.6
> million residential customers and 400,000 business customers
> throughout the Golden State.
> 
> "One reason Pacific Bell is deploying this technology so rapidly
> in California is the favorable regulatory environment established
> by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)," said Jim
> Callaway, President, External Affairs Pacific Telesis. "The CPUC
> has instituted fair guidelines which make it attractive for us to
> make the major capital investments necessary to bring this
> important technology to millions of the residents of this state."
> 
> Committed to making bandwidth widely available, Pacific Bell is
> making it easy for Californians to get ADSL service. For example,
> the company has signed agreements with more than 22 ISPs -- which
> act as authorized sales representatives for Pacific Bell's ADSL
> service and offer the service to their business and residential
> customers. In addition, Pacific Bell will continue making ADSL
> service available to competitors and Internet service providers
> for resale at the new prices.
> 
> For more information on Pacific Bell ADSL and to order the
> service, California residents can call 1-888-884-2DSL or visit
> the Pacific Bell Web site at
> www.pacbell.com/products/business/fastrak/adsl/
> 
> Pacific Bell is a company of SBC Communications Inc.
> (www.sbc.com), a global leader in the telecommunications
> industry, with more than 36.9 million access lines and 6.5
> million wireless customers across the United States, as well as
> investments in telecommunications businesses in 11 countries.
> Under the Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, SNET, Nevada Bell and
> Cellular One brands, SBC, through its subsidiaries, offers a wide
> range of innovative services. SBC offers local and long-distance
> telephone service, wireless communications, data communications,
> paging, Internet access, and messaging, as well as
> telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and
> publishing. SBC has approximately 129,000 employees and its
> annual revenues rank it in the top 50 among Fortune 500
> companies.
> 
>                 Pacific Bell ADSL Pricing Sheet
> 
>             Downstream connection rates of up to 1.5Mbps,
>              guaranteed at 384 Kbps, 128 Kbps upstream
> 
> --
> ===========================================================
> Andrys Basten <andrys@netcom.com>  CNE, Basten Micro Consulting
> San Francisco area - 510/235-3861
> http://www.andrys.com/books.html -SEARCH for Books/Videos/Classical Music
>        Argerich discography. Also SEARCH Sheet Music, Fanfare Reviews
> http://www.andrys.com -Online resources
> http://www.andrys.com/indox.html -Peru photos w/Canon Elph
> Have music, will travel: piano, harpsichord, recorders

count me area as one that PB does not dsl service, although I do have
a PB ISDN line. :(

Still, once @Home gets to my area, now eta 2/26, I'm there. 

Tried to get a PB dsl line around a month ago. First they said my line
qualified, then they said it didn't, but never bothered to call me
after the install date was given.

It is almost as if PB wants to lose many ISP customers to @Home....

just Shale