| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 18, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INDUSTRIES
High-Speed Hotbeds The demand for speedy Net access is taking off. According to market researcher NxGen Data Research, by the end of 1999 over 766,000 homes in the U.S. will have high-speed connections, swelling to 17 million by 2003. DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service uses the copper wire of today's phone system. Whizzy electronics let wires handle much more data than in the past--speeds up to 100 times greater than a 56-kilobit modem. Prices vary from $40 for consumers to $250 per month for businesses. CABLE MODEMS Cable Internet service zips data into homes over the same TV wires that deliver MTV and ESPN. It costs about $40 per month on top of regular cable charges and includes a cable modem. Cable modems deliver data more than 100 times faster than today's speediest 56-kilobit modems. NEW YORK/BOSTON Tech meccas in the northeast where telco Bell Atlantic is aggressively marketing DSL to its 20 million customers. It has competition from Cox cable, which has blanketed Rhode Island with cable systems. SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA This region has emerged as the most competitive. High-speed Net access was kick-started in 1996, when @Home launched cable modem service in the suburb of Fremont. DSL carriers Pacific Bell, Covad, and Northpoint enrich the options. CHICAGO Ameritech has been slow to deliver DSL, but merger partner SBC will hasten deployment in 2000. Still, several regional players offer DSL and cable modem service throughout the midwest. AUSTIN Time Warner offers cable modem service to 358,000 homes here while TCI has made Dallas a target. Plus, there's a bevy of DSL providers in Texas from local Bell SBC to Covad, which has just entered the region with 1,000 lines. FLORIDA/GEORGIA Sprint has targeted Orlando with its DSL service and Time Warner has made the city a test center. Bell South does big DSL business here as does Internet service-provider Mindspring. Media One is making a run at the cable modem market. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS Making the Net Go Faster, Faster, Faster TABLE: High-Speed Hotbeds TABLE: The Broadband Scorecard Where to Find Warp Speed TABLE: The Fastest Way to the Net INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
