« ADSL and broadband internet connectivity »

The info on this page is actually from the late 90's when I was actively campaigning for unmetered and broadband access in the UK. I did consider updating this page but given the widespread availability of cable and DSL options even including (limited) access to 8Mb/s lines and SDSL in would just be an excercise in bargain hunting.

As such this page can remain as a piece of history!

Sadly Cadvision is history but, as at July 2003 Telus's business offering for Alberta with:
Downstream speed up to 2.5 Mbps Upstream speed up to 640 Kbps is under $50 CAN a month.
That's a mere £22 a month. Given BT want £140 for 2Mb/s / 256kb/s...   Are we getting stuffed or what!?

Here's a link to Telus (formly www.telus.net)

The standard BT rates in the UK are 4p a minute peak time, 1p a minute off peak.
Hint for Canadians - that's around $6 AN HOUR to connect in the day!

This is a xdsl posting from 1999 but the link holds true...

"Finally...a web site which provides national coverage of Consumer High Speed Internet Access Services!

Check out www.getspeed.com

Based on a Street Address, Zip Code and NPA-NXX, Getspeed will return:

1. All DSL services, descriptions, prices, data rates, and availability dates for a give CO.
2. The aerial Distance-to-the-CO in feet -- and relative likelihood of availability.
3. All Cable Modem services and details within a given Zip Code.
4. All LMDS/MMDS services and details within a Zip Code.
5. A satellite antenna "aiming" calculation so that consumer (using a compass) can check for possible antenna locations for satellite-based Internet services.
6. Hyperlinks to all service providers.

The goal of Getspeed.com is twofold, first to provide Consumers with information on ALL available high-speed service options, and secondly to assist ISPs and MSOs in locating customers and finding demand "hotspots" for future deployments.

The follow ADSL Pricing is from Kingston Internet and is correct as at: March 3rd, 1999
Prices exclude VAT (sales tax) at 17.5%

The follow Leased Line Pricing is from Kingston Internet and is correct as at: March 3rd, 1999
Prices exclude VAT (sales tax) at 17.5%

Bell Atlantic ~ Infospeed
Infospeed line service only

• Personal at 640kbps - $39.95
• Professional at 1.6 Mbps - $59.95
• Power users at 7.1 Mbps - $109.95

Infospeed and Bell Atlantic.net

• Personal at 640kbps - $59.95
• Professional at 1.6 Mbps - $109.95
• Power users at 7.1 Mbps - $189.95

One-time charges include the following:

• Service Connection Charge: $99.00
• DSL Modem: $325.00
• Turnkey Home Installation: $99.00

For customers subscribing to a Bell Atlantic.net DSL package for twelve months, the Westell DSL modem is only $49 (including $50 cash back), and the Ethernet card* and turnkey home installation are free!

"Although no usage based charging will be applied during the trial, usage patterns will be monitored in order that BT may assess the appropriateness of such charging when and if the ISN is launched."

The above extract is from a BT document (dated: 26 March 1999) and shows their continued narrow-mindedness and obsession with call charges based tariffs at all levels.

Compare that against a typical Americal company like [ Jump.net ]

"This will be a powerful benefit for most of our customers, who rely on Internet access as the very basic element of their professional and personal daily lives. And of course, DSL is the preferred solution for power users, who will be able to set up static IPs, use their own domain names, host Web sites, etc."

Coming from an aggrieved American...
The ISP offers Dialup for $20 for 56K/33K but when it's a permanent connection, at 128K/128K the cost is 10 times as much ($200) for approx 3 times the speed. This is after paying the telco $40 for the ISDN line to the CO.

Backtrack those lines, if you will.
He's paying $20 a month for unmetered Internet, or a whopping $200 a month for a leased line.
Imagine his thought were Bell to announce:

Hey the Brits are paying $1,800 a month, we'll charge the same..."

From another American
In an ideal world, a corporation like B-A would say, "Now that I've got cheap DSL, I must admit that I have been charging way too much for ISDN, so I will drop the price of 128k ISDN to $30/month, so my customers will have an alternative if they can't afford or get DSL."


At the end of Q1 99 there was an installed base of about 90,000 ADSL modems in the US (and begger all in England!)


Robert O'Connor of rocnet.com on ISDN (IDSL) Services and Prices
27 Apr 1999

Ok, It doesn't look good for "regular" DSL in my rural Maine area served by a rural TelCo. I currently have ISDN that is used for Video Conferencing.

I have convinced the talc to do away with the per minute per B channel charges and for "just $8 more" per month, I will have unlimited connection for no additional charge. The new tariff is about to be approved by the PUC.

(The new total with all charges -FCC etc- is about $40/month ISDN Residential.)

The additional ISP (Internet Charges) with the telco subsidiary (only choice currently) are:

$ 35/month 64K ISDN Dialup
$ 55/month 128K ISDN Dialup
Both "unlimited" but not permanent always on.

They are planning soon to offer permanent ISDN connection. Their planned price for Internet service is ***$ 200/ month***

(Is this really "IDSL"?)

This same "only choice" ISP from the telco charges $20/month for unlimited access POTS dialup

*** This is quite a jump for NO apparent reason to me. Yes, with this I get a permanent IP address.

In contrast, In some southern areas in Bell Atlantic territory they are offering "BA" DSL with 640K down and 90K up for $40 per month with a choice of five ISP's with added charges ranging from $10 to $30 per month ( $10,10,19,20, & 30 per month)
[ Bell Atlanta now redirects to Verizon - Paul, July 2003, with 1.5Mb DSL at about $30 ]

So, I could get a permanent always on 128K bi-directional internet connection for $240 per month. - I think that this is WAY overpriced.

Ok so what is reasonable? Why can my "only choice" ISP charge $200 a month for 128K/128K service and BellAtl ISP choices for 640K/90K service charge as low as $10/month?

In other words I pay 20 times More for ~~ 4 times Less speed!

Other thoughts from the group?

From another American

"Hard" isn't the issue. Cost is. Heavy-duty upstream Internet bandwidth costs $1500 to $2000 per month for a T1. Bandwidth gets somewhat cheaper when you buy a lot of it, but Internet bandwidth doesn't get cheaper nearly as fast as telco bandwidth does.

For example [small scale]: For us to move to a T3 from a T1 we need to install a local loop that has a $7K installation price and $2500/month cost. That is not for the bandwith, just to connect to the provider. The bandwidth jumps from around $1K to $18K.

From Sarah

Cable or ADSL? Everything is a question of sharing. Both of services are shared but Cable modems are shared two times, in the network by the customers because the network uses a tree configuration, and in the backbone. ADSL is shared only in the backbone, because the telecommunication network uses a star configuration. But depending on how many customers are shared for each Internet trunk, the ADSL service can be worse than cable, if it uses a better sharing relation.

From Tim Johnson, [point-topic.com]
(TeleChoice xDSL Discussion [lists.telechoice.com]) (edited)

Free ISP services in the UK are nothing (or very little) to do with ad revenue. The opportunity arises because the UK tariff structure is completely different from that in the US.

It works like this. The customer dials a local call number to access their ISP. They pay a high rate to BT for the call - 5.5 cents/minute peak, 2.1 cents evenings, 1.4 cents weekends, before sales tax. [and the rest! - Paul]

BT connects the call through to one of the various competing network operators in the UK. The competing operator carries it over their network to the ISP.

Because this counts as a trunk connection BT has to pay a large part of the revenue received from the local call to the competing carrier. But the actual cost of terminating the call is very low. So the competing carrier can afford to share the revenue they receive from BT with the ISP. This is what pays for the apparent free service. Indeed at least one ISP is offering what they call "cheaper than free" where the user gets paid a rebate on their phone bill.

How big the revenue share is depends on the mix of peak-time traffic. I was told of one major ISP generating 100 million minutes per month of traffic, about 40% of it in peak time, where the revenue from BT averages 1.1 pence (say 1.8 cents) per minute, or over UKP 1 million per month.

Only a year or two ago the network operators were able to keep all this revenue for themselves. Then they started offering 5% to the ISPs, then 10%, then 20%. I am told that one operator has recently mailed ISPs with an offer of 40% of the revenue.

Because of this situation the competing operators have a virtual monopoly of ISP business, to BT's chagrin. But Oftel, the regulator, is reviewing the rules and they could well change. Also, the introduction of ADSL will change things completely. The free ISP could well be just a passing phase in the UK rather than a permanent phenomenon.

Tim J - (How true this proved, Paul)

There is light in a dark continent (17 March 1999)

Kingston Internet is the ISP for Kingston Communications, the telecommunications operator in Kingston-on-Hull and surrounding areas. Take a look at the charges for Karoo Xtra, their new package: you are not seeing things.

£15 per month plus 6.5p per call irrespective of the length of the call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

As Barrysworld says, it's 'every UK gamer's dream' and, we suggest, probably 'every UK Internet user's dream' as well.

This tariff really puts pressure on BT and the cable operators. For, if Kingston Communications can do it, why can't they? In fact, why don't you get in touch with your telecommunications operator and ask that question?

Karoo Xtra is based on a revolutionary concept, it would seem, for the telecommunications industry in this country: asking people what they wanted. Kingston Communications said 'How much would you be willing to pay for Internet access per month all in?' to their subscribers: the answer came back as '£25 at most'. They managed less than that.

The lamentations of the Jeremiahs ('clogged lines', 'dropped calls', doom, destruction, disaster) haven't come true. We've had quite a lot of feedback from Karoo Xtra users, all of it positive.

I'll heavily edit the rest as it really is dated. The really sad and annoying thing is these any from early 1999 and it's now 2003 and I'm STILL living in the UK and we've barely passed even 512kb/256kb access :(


From Bell South, a T1 connection into their Frame (for an ISP) was $400/month plus loop for ultimate connection to customers.


"On my 8meg/640k ADSL at my home, I get about 950kbyte/sec file download and about 79kbyte/sec upload."


Over 40% of US households have Internet access, growing at over 20% (of existing users) per year.


"In addition to the price cut for the entry-level DSL package, the price of Bell Atlantic.net's Professional DSL package will be reduced to $99.95 a month for unlimited use, a $10 reduction. Professional Infospeed features speeds up to 1.6 megabits per second (Mbps) and Bell Atlantic.net Internet access.

Bell Atlantic.net's premium DSL package, Bell Atlantic Power Infospeed, will remain at $189.95 a month for unlimited use with speeds up to 7.1 Mbps and Bell Atlantic.net Internet access.

• DSLAM per port is about $350
• Backhaul/switch/router per user is about $100
• CPE is about $200
• Sign up, provisioning, advertising is about $300
• Field installation can vary from $1200 to $2000