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by Andrew McCaskey
Telcos Looking for a Nail, Holding a DSL Hammer
The notice from Qwest announcing 40Mbps service (20 up) in some areas looks enticing, until you examine the fine print. Due to the nature of the system, the speeds drop in direct proportion to the distance from the Central Office. The new announcement is basically moving the CO to a remote node via fiber that is closer to the customer, and then replicating the copper based delivery service that has been the hallmark of telco services for years. The issue is the same, just moved a few miles closer to the customer. Qwest was unable to tell how many customers, or to estimate by some rule of thumb the number of customers who would actually receive the full 40 MBps speed. Once again, if you are trying to get high speed service, the incumbent telcos are not your friend.
Having just priced out some Qwest services, and living in a non-FiOS area of Verizon, I can tell you that Selling 1Mbps downlinks ($19.99/month with two year contract and phone lock-in penalty) is not high speed, unless you are using technology that is fifteen or twenty years old.
And today, faced with competition from DOCSIS 3.0 in many markets and FiOS in some, Qwest is making the best play that it can with a poor hand. And Verizon is just simply looking for the ignorant in hopes of stopping the bleed of residential phone service to wireless or VoIP competitors.
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