Looking for Reliable Broadband
Patrick Cashmore, a Silicon Valley-based photographer, relies on his cable modem to deliver digital images to his clients. But when he sat down at his computer Dec. 1, Cashmore couldn’t get online.
Cashmore is one of 850,000 AT&T; customers caught in a battle between AT&T; and what remains of the bankrupt Excite@Home cable modem service.
Three days later, Cashmore was back online as AT&T; made good on its promise to connect him to its own high-speed network. He had to change his e-mail address and may have lost some e-mail during the transition, but he is, once again, a happy Web surfer.
I know the feeling. I’ve twice been the victim of a failed cable modem and digital subscriber line service, and it’s no fun. Excite@Home and its cable company partners aren’t the only companies to leave customers in the lurch. This year, two major DSL providers, Northpoint Communications and Rhythms, ceased operations, which in turn forced the Internet service providers that relied on these services to pull the plug on many customers.
An independent DSL provider, Covad Communications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August but is still in business after a recent cash infusion from SBC Communications.
Unlike many of the failed dot-coms, broadband companies’ troubles aren’t from a lack of customer interest or the economic downturn.
This is one case in which someone really did build a better mousetrap, and even though people beat a path to their doors, many companies weren’t able to keep their doors open because of poor business practices.
DSL and cable modem services use different technology, but they have a lot in common. Both are capable of offering about the same speed and level of service. Both are subject to outages.
Although there are no guarantees, there seem to be some relatively stable players out there. Covad executives, for instance, claim that despite the bankruptcy, the firm’s $150-million deal with SBC will keep it afloat long enough until it has “cash-flow-positive operations” by the second half of 2003.
Other major players include the DSL divisions of the big phone companies. For example, SBC-owned Pacific Bell, which offers Internet service in California and Nevada, has very deep pockets.
I’ve had a Covad connection through Seattle-based Speakeasy for more than a year and have experienced little downtime and only a handful of slowdowns. For the last two months, I’ve been testing Pacific Bell’s DSL, and it has been pretty solid.
When PacBell launched its DSL service, it got off to a very bad start. I was one of many consumers who signed up in response to a telemarketing campaign only to find out that my order was never entered into the system. Others who finally did get connected often had to wait several months before PacBell got around to installing their service. Tech support back then was hard to reach, but it too has improved dramatically.
PacBell and Covad offer self-installation kits that come with a DSL modem that you plug into your regular phone jack and your PC’s ethernet card. The hardest part is installing an ethernet card if you don’t already have one. As a $199 option, PacBell will dispatch a technician to install your modem and your ethernet card. DSL prices typically start at about $49 plus a setup fee, but PacBell and Covad currently are waiving some charges.
Excuse me if I punctuate all of this with a bit of skepticism. I’ve said positive things about DSL and cable modem services in the past, only to write a retraction a few months later. The bleeding edge of technology can be exciting, but a bit of stability would be nice.
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Technology reports by Lawrence J. Magid can be heard between 2 and 3 p.m. weekdays on the KNX-AM (1070) Technology Hour. He can be reached at larry.magid@latimes .com.
