False Hopes Raised on DSL?

by Jim Thompson

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted last month to force ILECs to share the high-frequency portion of their local loops, ISPs and CLECs offering DSL jumped for joy. But the popping of champagne corks may be a bit premature—a number of crucial issues remain to be worked through. Some believe the decision—at least in the short term—may not bring the windfall hoped for by ISPs or even give a significant boost to DSL technology,

"There is no Berlin Wall that will come tumbling down with this decision," said Lisa Pierce, director with the Giga Information Group. "Just because a legal decision has been made doesn't mean that it will work. There are still many issues to be resolved."

Political euphoria
Specifically, the FCC order calls for incumbent carriers to offer unbundled access to the high-frequency portions of their local loops to any carrier deploying DSL technology.

Prior to the ruling, customers who ordered high-speed access from an ISP other than their local phone provider were forced to pay for the installation of an additional telephone line. The new ruling eliminates the cost of installing a new line and the expense and hassle of changing your phone number just to gain access to a CLEC or ISP.

Many—among them commissioners of the FCC—hail the decision as a victory for consumers. Chairman William Kennard, for example, said the decision will give consumers, "greater choices at lower prices for high-speed Internet access."

Crosby Haffner, president of Zyan Communications, a Los Angeles-based ISP offering DSL services, agreed."It will have a tremendous impact, especially in the consumer market," said Haffner."The unbundling of the copper wire will light a fire under the proliferation of DSL services."

Technical reality
While it's pretty clear that, in the short term, consumers will save the cost of installing a second line, in the long run, the picture is clouded with problems involving signal interference, maintenance issues, and added costs.

"The main concern," said Pierce, "involves the technical matters surrounding the FCC decision." The first issue CLECs have to tackle is how to access the high-frequency portion of the local loop without interfering with other high-frequency applications that may exist in the same cable bundle.

"If you put a high-frequency signal, like DSL, in a cable packed with other types of high-frequency signals, very often you get interference. There are a lot of CLECs who are still using non-standard line coding schemes to transmit DSL signals that interfere with other services."

Another question concerns maintenance. Just as significant as what is in the FCC ruling is what is not. Most notably, ILECs are not required to unbundle the "voice band" portions of their loops. "The order may be moot since most DSL providers are interested in getting into the voice business because that's where the revenue is," Pierce said. "Only ISPs and some data-centric CLECs are potential winners."

Who's in charge?
Control over the voice portion of the local loop also brings up the question of who is responsible if there's a line problem.

In many cases, the customer will have one line, but two carriers—a CLEC for data and an ILEC for voice. If the line goes out, "who ya gonna call?" In a case like this—as the song says—you may have better luck with Ghostbusters than with your local Bell or your ISP.

You can expect a lot of finger-pointing when a line or signal goes down. The problem is compounded because most consumers won't understand that the line and the voice segment on that line is supplied by the phone company while the ISP and the DSL portion is the responsibility of a CLEC.

Along with CLECs and ISPs, ILECs will also be running for the aspirin bottle. "This decision gives the ILECs operational heartburn," said Pierce. "It's going to be wild. The customer experiencing the trouble will be screaming and yelling at the ILEC—especially in the case of frequency interference where other services are disrupted," added Pierce.

Bottom line: customers will pay more
The result of all this confusion is likely to be higher customer support costs. "CLECs and ISPs always talk about the capital cost of DSL deployment. The fact is, the capital cost of taking care of a network is less than 20 percent," said Pierce. "The bulk of the expense is for operational support which includes customer care and tech support. Any savings resulting from the FCC order are likely to be overcome by additional customer support costs."

The FCC order is in place, but it will likely be about six months before it actually takes effect. Several things have yet to be worked out, including guidelines for switching customers from their current service and agreements on how ILECs will be compensated for sharing their lines.

Once it does take effect, additional delays are inevitable as the details are sorted out. "Although this decision has the potential of providing customers with more options—the technical, operational, and customer support issues are going to be a living, breathing nightmare," said Pierce.

Related stories:
FCC Approves Line Sharing