InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
April 26, 1999
TechView:Will DSL Work Better Than ISDN?
By Sean Gallagher
any of you have doubtless heard the joke that the acronym ISDN really stands for "It Still Doesn't Work." The source of that one-liner was, of course, the fact that U.S. telephone companies couldn't get their collective acts together on an ISDN standard for years--and once they did, no two telcos seemed to implement the standard the same way, bill for it the same way, or even provide it consistently across their service areas.Sound familiar? So far, digital subscriber line is, as Yogi Berra might call it, "déjà vu all over again." Yes, it's getting deployed a little more quickly than ISDN did--but only because the Bell companies are getting their lunches eaten by the relatively more aggressive cable companies, and because DSL service companies such as Covad Communications are behind them pushing--sometimes.
Of course, it doesn't take a lean, agile company to overtake most of the Bell companies--I don't think anyone would describe most cable companies that way. In fact, the main reason I'm resorting to DSL rather than cable modem is that my cable company, TCI, isn't even thinking about the infrastructure for cable modems in my area. And, quite frankly, even if it were, I'd be a little reluctant to put my business connectivity in the hands of my friendly TCI customer-service center. At least with DSL, you get something resembling quality of service--right?
You'd think that. However, recent personal experience seems to contradict that. I'm currently in the middle of my own DSL installation saga, and the finger-pointing has already begun.
Bell Atlantic owns the wire, Covad owns the network, and a competitive local exchange carrier owns the connection to my Internet service provider. Each sends a different technician to my site, and I never know when any of them will show up. Now, halfway through, the Covad tech finds that Bell Atlantic has given me a bad wire, and it has to get kicked back to them again. Since it's their trouble ticket and not mine, the only way I'll know that my circuit is fixed is to keep an eye on the link light on my router for the next five days.
Now that's quality of service. But the wait will be worth it, I'm sure--based on my last telephone bill, even the 1.1-Mbit symmetric DSL I'm getting will be cheaper per month than my ISDN connectivity costs. Sure, Bell Atlantic has lowered some of its ISDN rates, but I could still pay an extra employee with what I'd save over the course of the year if all the telecommuters on my staff had DSL. Replace a few T1s with DSL, and you're starting to talk real money.
Of course, DSL won't be widely available in many areas anytime soon. So will it really live up to its potential? For the connectivity have-nots, DSL means "Doesn't Sound Likely."
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