New Deals Bring High-Speed Surfing Closer to Home

Home Office Computing, April, 1999 by Jeffery D. Zbar

High-Speed Internet access is headed home. The only question is when.

A recent spate of deals is expected to speed cable modem and digital subscriber line (DSL) service to millions of home office customers. The news raises homeworkers' hopes that they may soon enjoy the swift, "always-on" connections their corporate counterparts have enjoyed for years at reasonable prices. "Plenty of people ... would pay $50 a month [for broadband Internet access]," says Eric Schmitt, an analyst at. Forrester Research. "[It] gives them a leg up to look bigger and more professional."

To broaden its reach nationwide, @Home of Redwood City, Calif., contracted with AT&T in January to provide 15,000 miles of fiber optic lines. (@Home is 39 percent owned by TCI, which itself is being acquired by AT&T.) To add content to its network, @Home entered talks to acquire Excite a week later.

In similar deals, America Online has announced plans to resell high-speed service from Bell Atlantic under the AOL brand. And NBC and C/Net's forthcoming Cyclone will mix service from GTE InterNetworklng, SBC Internet Services, and Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions with content from NBC, Sony, Rolling Stone, and Tower Records.

Regional Bell companies are also following suit. Last year, US West began a 40-city rollout of ADSL service. Ameritech, BellSouth, and Covad Communications in San Francisco are also testing or debuting service, while Cox Communications offers LAN and Internet cable modems that average 3Mbps for $40 to $60 a month.

This boom will increase your chances of getting high-speed Internet service, but until fiber optic cables are laid nationwide, service will remain spotty. Even though many providers acknowledge the pent-up demand, ubiquitous broadband access will likely take several years. Forrester Research predicts that by 2002, only 26 percent of the expected 9.7 million Internet-connected home businesses will enjoy cable modem or DSL service.