One more example that the demarcation between "network" and "user premises" steadily is being erased, in the office or the home, AT&T has launched a nationwide "Geek Squad" or "Firedog" service for customers in all 50 States, whether they are AT&T customers or not.
The “ConnecTech” service will help consumers configure computers, set up networking, and install home theaters and mount TVs. Prices range from $69 for basic remote troubleshooting of a PC or home network support to $179 for at-home support.
Those are flat-rate prices, not per hour. It can cost $849 for a technician to mount a flat-panel TV over 32″ on a wall, connect audio and video components, conceal cables in the wall as construction allows, and demonstrate to how to use the whole system.
A simple PC set-up, where the tech hooks it up to a home network, downloads updates to Microsoft Windows and hooks up your printer will cost a flat-rate $119. An Apple Mac set up costs $159.
In the world of IP communications and digital devices, no service provider forever can ignore the need to operate on both sides of the network interface or firewall.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
AT&T Launches Nationwide Tech Support Business

New Comcast Traffic Shaping Plan

At some level this is a marketing opportunity for fiber-to-home networks that should be able to operate without such restrictions. At another level, "heavy users" probably are not profitable customers at this point. Not only do their subscription fees not cover their consumption of network resources, but they also create problems for other users.
Still, the longer-term issue is that the usage profile of a "heavy" user today becomes more like the "normal" usage profile at some point in the future, when most people use the Internet to watch video.
Long term, there is but one reasonable alternative: much more bandwidth for every user. In the near term, there are some serioius marketing issues to grapple with. Though the overwhelming percentage of users will never encounter the traffic shaping, the existence of such shaping then becomes a potential marketing drag for some, an opportunity for others.
But it is a complicated matter. In truth, competitors probably are happy "heavy" users are Comcast's problem, as such customers are not profitable, and in fact create externalities. It isn't just the stress on the access networks. Comcast pays transit fees for all those video bits. So higher usage really does impose usage-based costs.
This will be an interesting marketing challenge for Comcast and its competitors. Longer term, it also is a packaging and pricing challenge, since most users ultimately will wind up consuming lots more bandwidth as video becomes a staple of Internet activity.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
AT&T Offers 2-Year Guaranteed Access Rate
AT&T has announced a guaranteed broadband access monthly rate for two years without the hassle of a term commitment. The plan freezes rates for two years and does not have any termination fee.
New residential AT&T high speed Internet orders placed before Nov. 15 will include the price guarantee.
Given the shockingly low net high-speed access additions AT&T, Verizon and Qwest experienced in the second quarter, it is a smart move.
New residential AT&T high speed Internet orders placed before Nov. 15 will include the price guarantee.
Given the shockingly low net high-speed access additions AT&T, Verizon and Qwest experienced in the second quarter, it is a smart move.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Another Shift in How Things Get Counted

That seems to be the growing case for video entertainment. Until recently, "basic subscribers" have been a fairly reasonable way to evaluate how well a video provider is doing. Two decades ago, that might have been a reasonable way to evaluate how well a telco was doing. But markets are changing, and so are the "counting" mechanisms.
This data from the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing track "digital video" in addition to basic subscribers. At some point, we might well find that digital video subscriptions are a better indicator of performance than "basic" subscriber units, where in the past the delivery protocols haven't mattered as much (satellite subscribers are, by definition, digital customers).
These days, "revenue generating units" make more sense as a way of describing either cable or telco growth. About a decade ago, "voice grade equivalents" began making more sense than "access lines" as a way of describing and measuring performance.
It looks like we are just on the cusp of a time when digital video units are a better growth metric than "basic" and "enhanced" or "digital cable" subscriptions.

1/3 of Vista PCs Downgraded to XP, Survey Suggests

For whatever reason, large numbers of users still seem to be expressing a preference for XP.

Saturday, August 16, 2008
Phweet Escalates Twitter to Voice
Phweet, a new application that allows Twitter exchanges to escalated to voice, now is in public alpha. One of the more unusual features is the ability to create on-the-fly, unscheduled conference calls. Basically the app works using shortURLs. A signed-in Twitter user can ping other Twitter user and request escalation to voice. The other user receives a shortURL. When clicked, a voice session is created using a simple click-to-talk operation.
Twitter addicts may like this.
Twitter addicts may like this.

Thursday, August 14, 2008
Falling off a Cliff


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