throughput by providing guaranteed upstream bandwidth, and excellent technical support. The reliability and congestion issues all seem to be problems of the past with the current upgrades and service quality improvements made by the cable company. The big advantage that attracts many businesses is the low monthly fees compared to T-1 lines. A traditional T-1 line will cost at least $1,000 per month, where as TCI cable company charges $249 per month for 256 Kbps upstream connection. The cable modem prices are not as clear-cut as the cable providers make it seem. The varying selection of bandwidths, mailboxes, and number of users create a rising pricing structure. TCIs @work cable modem service has three different pricing structures depending on the amount of users. The @work service starts out providing service to 15 users, at a cost of $249 per month for 256 Kbps upstream connections. From there it goes up to $349 per month for 512 Kbps, and $548 per month for 768 Kbps. For an additional 15 users it is an additional $100 per month. In addition to monthly fees, there is an installation charge of $500 and $25 extra for every five additional mailboxes purchased. (TCI @work, personal communication, November 16, 1999) The equipment provided includes the router and modem. ADSLCable Modems(TCI)T-1Bandwidth64 Kbps 1.5 Mbps Upstream1.5 7 Mbps Downstream256 768 Kbps Upstream30 Mbps Downstream1.544 MbpsPrice$20 - $200 per month$150 Installation $500-$1,000 per PC for Hardware$249-$548 per month$500 Installation $10-30$ per PC for Hardware$1,000-$1,500 per monthAsymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology is a new technology that is competing with the cable modem industry. ADSL is important to discuss, because it attracts many of the small business companies looking for a cheap modem service. ADSL is capable of between 1.6 and 8 megabits per second downstream and up to 640 Kbps upstream, ADSL can be combined with the imp...
