[CLUE-Tech] Qwest DSL Pricing Change

[Mike Staver]

>>I've got it at Buckley & Quincy... I'm amazed that being that close, you 
>>can't get it.  I just don't get the telecoms - they could make a lot of 
>>money by offering the service in areas if they would just put the work 
>>in initially.
>>    
>>
>
>A remote DSLAM costs them ~ $100,000. They look at time to payback.
>If there aren't that many customers forecast, the time to payback the
>initial investment is 30 or 40 years. The average crossbox is only going
>to serve a couple thousand people, at most (as long as it is not in the
>heart of a business district, ala DTC or Downtown). But if you happen
>to be stuck on a crossbox that serves 300 people, and they decided most
>of you are not likely to buy DSL, you're SOL. That is the situation my
>cousin is in -- and he works at Qwest! Even his bugging (weekly) the
>manager that allocates the money doesn't help.
>
>(The non-remote DSLAM DSL stuff is almost all deployed, as that is done
>at the Central Office, and thus has a very wide customer pool.  If you
>are on copper and can't get DSL, it just means your line sucks. )
>
>It's just your typical capitalism, sadly.
>
>  
>
That's really too bad that it costs so much - imagine if somebody could 
work some magic and come up with a cheaper DSLAM then... I'm very 
impressed with the extra speed I got from the upgrad Qwest gave for 
free.  Mine kicked in today, and since I got home from work, I've 
noticed a huge difference.  Doing remote administration from home into 
work now is much smoother.  Transfering files back and forth is about 
twice as fast now up stream, and slightly faster downstream.  Kudos to 
Qwest for the free upgrades!!