Verizon To Use New Tech With Old Cables

Ant wrote to mention a ZDNet article about a new initive to get modern high-speed net access into homes utilizing old coaxial cable lines. Right now Verizon digs up streets and lays out expensive fiber to get homes online, but new tech may let them accomplish that task for much less hassle and expense. From the article: "Later this year, it plans to use new technology from the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) , an industry group that promotes using coaxial cable installed for cable TV to transmit broadband around the home. The organization says that its technology supports speeds up to 270 megabits per second. Because most homes already have coaxial cable installed in several rooms, Verizon can significantly reduce its Fios installation costs by using existing cabling to connect home computers to its broadband service."

Comments

My Problem is SBC DSL

[Master of Transhuman]

Some months back I finally decided to upgrade my 1.5Mbps service to the 3Mbps. They had no problem letting me do that and charging me $20 less per month than I had been paying.

Then I noticed I wasn't getting 3Mbps - I was only getting about 10% more speed than I had been getting before. I didn't mind too much since it was still costing me $20 less than it had. But finally I decided to find out why.

After SBC tech support referred me to ASI, their provisioner, it turns out I'm 12,000 feet away from the CO DSLAM. The tech said 3Mbps service was only for people at 10,000 feet or less. Not only that, if they raised me nearer to 3, my line would start experiencing drops more and more frequently until the line went down and stayed down. They set me back to 1.5Mbps. I had to renegotiate my cost with the Sales department which decided I should pay $26.95 a month for six months, after which it would go up to $30-something.

I see a class action lawsuit coming up here, as SBC sells 3Mbps upgrades to people who THEY KNOW can't handle the speed and THEY KNOW will damage their service and make it unreliable.

Not only that, but they're promising TWENTY Mbps service this year. How is any subscriber going to get that speed - by being twenty feet from the CO - when they can't even deliver 3Mbps?