From owner-freebsd-hardware Wed Jan 22 12:24:25 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA24939 for hardware-outgoing; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 12:24:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from pinky.junction.net (pinky.junction.net [199.166.227.12]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA24922; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 12:24:21 -0800 (PST) Received: from sidhe.memra.com (sidhe.memra.com [199.166.227.105]) by pinky.junction.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id MAA04971; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 12:24:15 -0800 Received: from localhost (michael@localhost) by sidhe.memra.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id MAA23864; Wed, 22 Jan 1997 12:20:41 -0800 Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 12:20:40 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Dillon To: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 56K vs X2? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Organization: Memra Software Inc. - Internet consulting MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, Leonard Chua wrote: > I was also wondering if perhaps USR may be sheer power of brand-name > identity and loyalty, end up over the long run as the winner? The problem here is that this power of the USR brand is almost totally within the consumer market but the USR modems will not work unless the ISP market buys USR TotalControl servers. So far, large parts of the ISP market are quite happy with Livingston, Ascend, Cisco and Bay/Xyplex terminal servers and all those companies are going with the Lucent/Rockwell standard. Since the consumer generally phones their ISP to ask when X2 compatibility will be available the ISP has an opprtunity to erode USR's branding power by telling the customer one or more of the following: 1. No, we will not support USR X2. 2. We will support the Lucent/Rockwell K56plus standard. 3. USR X2 modems won't work with our service but if you buy one of this long list of brands then 56K will work. 4. If you buy USR X2 modems then you will be locked in to your ISP because you won't be able to switch to another non-USR ISP without buying a new 56K modem. 5. In real world tests, 56K modems rarely work that fast. 6. We will/may be charging more for 56K modem users. This is because we have to buy special terminal servers in order to support 56K. 7. Many people's phone lines will not support 56K. If you cannot get a 33.6k connect today, likely it won't work. 8. If ISDN is not available in your area then it is unlikely that your phone lines will support 56K. 9. 56K technology is a new technology and there will likely be bugs. It is wiser to wait until this shakes out before buying 56K technology and that is what we are going to do. 10. It is likely that eventually the two incompatible standards will be merged but that will also cause some upheaval and possibly upgrade costs. We prefer to wait until there is a single unified standard before buying new terminal servers. A number of ISP's have prepared web pages and handout sheets to explain to their customers why they should not buy USR X2 modems. You might want to do the same thing. Michael Dillon - Internet & ISP Consulting Memra Software Inc. - Fax: +1-250-546-3049 http://www.memra.com - E-mail: michael@memra.com