Comments on Deployment

ADSL service is catching on. However, the ILECs and CLECs are dragging their feet. As of late1998, only about 150,000 ADSL modem pairs were installed in the United States.

In contrast, over 800,000 cable modems were installed in residences and businesses across the country. The local owners of the copper loop have to take a more aggressive approach to delivering high-speed services or consumers will go somewhere else.

As the market continues to mature and standards continue to develop, the local providers must preserve their infrastructure.

Whereas consumers are reluctant to proceed with ADSL, the HDSL and SDSL services are still very attractive alternatives, offering 1.544- to 2.048-Mbps symmetrical speeds or some variation, as already discussed.

In the future, when high-speed media are installed to the door or to the curb, the logical stepping stone will become the VDSL service, perhaps sometime in 2002 to 2003.

Although trials are already underway, too much time passes until the results are complied and analyzed. Therefore, the reality of VDSL for the masses is still a long way off.